#wanting to read about something does not equal an endorsement of said thing. thank you and goodnight

[olreid]

would you perhaps be willing to post a syllabus of sorts for your tag "a long wish to be elsewhere"? i'm curious what sorts of things you consider essential to it!

hi! that one's fairly new as far as tags go so i don't have anything resembling essential readings compiled yet, but i can tell you what's on my list so far!

i guess the first thing to say is that the phrase itself comes from louise glück's poem unpainted door, which includes the line "i remember my childhood as a long wish to be elsewhere." i started thinking about childhood while watching paper girls and - what else? - shameless tv, and thus the tag was born. as i've done more research it has sort of morphed into family abolition research storage, which i'm not mad about tbh!

things i've read/watched/listened to so far that have been helpful:

everything for everyone: an oral history of the new york commune, 2052-2072 by m. e. o'brien and eman abdelhadi

histories of the transgender child by jules gill-peterson

jgp's gender reveal podcast episode

the queer child, or growing sideways in the 20th century by kathryn bond stockton

raised in captivity: why does america fail its children? by lucia hodgson

the idea of children by madeline lane-mckinley

recorded sessions from this psychosocial foundation course on the family, particularly the sessions with m. e. o'brien, sophie lewis, and fred moten

reliving childhood? the temporality of childhood and narratives of reincarnation by akhil gupta

abolish the family: a manifesto for care and liberation by sophie lewis (this was not actually incredibly helpful but the bibliography was so. whatev)

things i haven't gotten to yet but that are on my list to check out:

full surrogacy now: feminism against family by sophie lewis

children's liberation: autonomy and control course taught by sophie lewis

heroes of their own lives: the politics and history of family violence by linda gordon

family abolition: capitalism and the communizing of care (forthcoming june 2023) by m. e. o'brien

the children's rights movement by beatrice and ronald gross

the case for children's liberation by john mcmurtry

kinderkommunismus: a feminist analysis of the 21st century family and a communist proposal for its abolition by k.d. griffiths and j.j. gleeson

alexandra kollontai's writing on communism and the family

the anti-social family by michele barrett and mary mcintosh

unthinking the family by madeline lane-mckinley

the child to come: life after the human catastrophe by rebekah sheldon

family values: between neoliberalism and the new social conservatism by melinda cooper

its all in the family: intersections of gender, race, and nation by patricia hill collins

imperial leather: race, gender, and sexuality in the colonial contest by anne mcclintock

black 'feminisms' and pessimism: abolishing moynihan's negro family by tiffany lethabo king

that's it so far! others are welcome to add topical recommendations if they have any. this was fun to compile, i didn't really realize i'd read so much relevant stuff already : ) hope this answers your question !

#asks #anon #a long wish to be elsewhere #ETA didnt think i would have 2 say this but obv i cannot vouch for anything i havent read yet do NOT @ me. #wanting to read about something does not equal an endorsement of said thing. thank you and goodnight

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

https://www.theringer.com/music/2022/4/21/23035076/coachella-weekend-1-review-harry-styles-billie-eilish-lil-baby-jamie-xx

This guy is unnecessarily nasty about Harry and I don’t agree with him but interesting take on Coachella and other festivals being increasingly packaged which shouldn’t be surprising, I guess, but is.

Thanks for sending the review through anon.

I did find it hard to connect with at first, because the Coachella he is despairing at is the only Coachella I ever paid attention to. And there's something about someone being all like 'this is an inditement on modern life' about something that you've only ever known that way that has huge 'old man ranting at clouds' vibe. But the point sometimes is to listen to the old man, and learn things you didn't know about how Clouds (or festivals used to be).

I've always found negative reviews of Harry really interesting to think about. I suspect anyone reading this blog will guess that I really enjoyed the first paragraph about Harry:

This is a long way to explain how Coachella went from having Rage Against the Machine as its first headliner into having the Machine be its latest. Let’s be unequivocally clear: Harry Styles seems like a nice lad. His politics are saint simple; he believes in peace, love, equality, and every other utopian notion nearly impossible to eradicate in a world riven by cruelty, avarice, duplicity, and all the other defects hexing the human genome. His motto is “TPWK” (treat people with kindness), which is all well and good when you’re worth an estimated $80 million and dating Ted Lasso’s ex. Stevie Nicks likes him. According to his Wikipedia, he believes in karma. He does pilates and meditates. He’s a pescatarian. He endorsed Joe Biden.

He does get really nasty after that (calling SoTT: 'It sounded created for a Disney biopic about Rod Stewart, which has yet to be cast.' was my favourite of the very pointed barbs) I think nastiness was necessary to the point he's trying to make.

He see Harry as an artist where there's no there there - someone who is good at copying and mimicing and has nothing to say.

Harry Styles is an archetypal artist for the late capitalist drain spiral of ambient streaming and social media thirst: simply far too big and slickly packaged to fail. He rose to fame on a reality show, was coached by Simon Cowell, and made brain-fry famous as one-fifth of a boy band whose distinguishing characteristic was loving both kinds of music: boomer rock and pop. They finished in third place on the reality show, but ended up selling millions. Since he went solo he’s been managed by the son of the most powerful man in the music industry, represented by the world’s most powerful talent agency, and signed to a label owned by a multinational conglomerate that made $11 billion in net income during the first year of the pandemic.

There is a very clear divide in music critics between those who connect with Harry - and those who don't. And those who don't see an emptiness to him, and I don't think that's because they're mean, or snobby, or don't understand. I think it's a very reasonable assessment of Harry, from people who have a lot of knowledge and are very passionate about music. And they can see how much Harry wants to make people happy, and the way he's holding himself back. And the more that he says that he's incredibly free and this is the result, the more reasonable it is for someone for whom this matters to see him as: " a KIDZ BOP version of the Almost Famous soundtrack."

One of my first thoughts when listening to the leaked tracks was: "I don't think that this will persuade the people at Pitchfork who thinks Harry 'sounds like good music' that it is good music".

And I say this as someone whose Coachella performance made my week and brought me huge joy. But like I said, I didn't hear about Coachella until it became an influencer fest. There's lots of things I find really interesting about music culture (which is why I'm here), but I'm not heavily invested in music as an art form.

Party of my curiosity about music culture is listening to critics, not because they're 'right', because 'right' isn't a useful way to respond to criticism. But because they're good at articulating what they see. I'm not saying that it's true that "There is no such thing as a Harry Styles song." - but I do think it's worth thinking about the absense in Harry's work that Jon Weiss is responding to.

#Oh Harry #I find it fucking fascinating #And it makes me glad for the leak #because I can process the album a little bit #before getting inundated with album content

[sokkastyles]

Honestly, I refuse to interact with that last thread you reblogged, because I don't want to spread OP's (what was their handle again? Bryke-official or something? I already forgot) name and give them more attention than what they deserve even if it is for ratio, but I couldn't help myself and peeked at the notes and there was one that REALLY rubbed me in the wrong way. I don't want to explain what the person wrote in detail, but the main concept was that "in the case when a male and female have a close, non-romantic relationship, people read a male's actions as justification or entitlement to a relationship with the female", and I'm curious if they will EVER realize that's exactly what happened with K@t@@ng instead of Zutara... 1/3

Continuing with the honesty, I'm not even as angry by the fact that people apparently read a girl displaying affection to a boy as irrefutable proof of her romantic attraction (which is downright elementary school rethoric) just to endorse K@t@@ng, I'm more angry at the fact that even the people that claim to care SO much about Katara focus an awful lot on the boys in her life and what THEY have done for her instead of what SHE has done for them. All the emotional support Katara gave Aang, anyone? All the times she literally RESURRECTED him? The fact that Katara was the very first person who showed selfless compassion to Zuko? That consoled him in regards of his betrayal to Iroh? That ALSO saved his life? 2/3

Maybe I'll elaborate on this later myself, and maybe I should be thanking that anti-Zutara in the thread because, if Katara has done so much for Zuko, and Zuko has done SO much for Katara that even antis can only see THAT, then I'm not in the wrong for supporting a ship with MUTUAL emotional support and connection. Feels so good to be validated! 3/3

And also, just because, JESUS CHRIST!! I gave a look at that Bryke-official person's (or whatever their name was) page, and good God, they are OBSESSED with Bryan and Michael!! Like... for once I'm not angry that someone is so supportive of creators who resent their female fans so much, I REALLY feel sorry for Bryke now 😳😳😳

I hadn’t looked at the notes before but...yikes. It’s an old post so I have no idea if OP is still around, but what they said is incredibly misogynistic. Also quite ridiculous, considering that fandom as a whole does not project onto brown girls, and Mai is a MUCH easier character to identify with, especially for the types of girls and women who are into fandom. Introverted, sarcastic, dresses like she shops at Hot Topic...I’ve seen MANY people say that they identify with Mai, and also seen many people project onto her because 90% of her character is fanon, because there just isn’t that much to her in canon. Not that there is anything wrong with self inserting, but I wish people would be honest about it. And if people are self inserting onto Katara, that’s pretty cool. It’s amazing that a dark skinned girl is the center of shipping in the ATLA fandom and has been for fifteen years, but I assure you it’s not because she’s the easiest for people to self insert into, and dismissing her shipping potential that way seems awfully racist.

And the idea that people treat Zuko’s actions as a justification or entitlement to a relationship is ridiculous, since Zuko does not canonically have romantic feelings for Katara. Interpreting the lightning scene as him having feelings for her does not mean seeing him as entitled to a relationship with her, either, because Katara already paid back his sacrifice by saving his life two seconds later. That’s actually one of the best things about their dynamic, that there’s no sense that anyone owes anyone else, no one’s hiding their feelings from the other, and they stand as equals. Unlike with...certain other relationships in canon.

People are arguing about Zuko’s motivation and feelings when the lightning scene was actually all focused on Katara’s feelings. I mean, look at the expression on her face:

You can see her realizing in this moment just what losing Zuko would mean to her. In fact, I was trying to recall what this shot reminded me of, and then it hit me:

This is Katara in “The Fortuneteller” after Sokka said Aang was a powerful bender (like the person Aunt Wu said Katara would marry.) In fact, these shots are almost the same, the focus on Katara’s face, her similar expression, the realization of feelings, the blue and orange lighting reflected in her face, the fact that both Zuko and Aang are shown to be powerful benders in these moments. (Yes, Zuko is a powerful bender. Here he is performing a technique that only two other people know how to do, and he taught one of those people, and he didn’t even do it correctly and he still redirected the lightning. Look back at that shot of the lightning being released up into the sky and tell me that’s not powerful.)

Someone, I forget who, said that it’s less the actions themselves and more what happens afterwards that has potential to draw Zuko and Katara closer together. Many people who go through a near-death experience together often become close even if they were complete strangers before. Sometimes they even end up married. It’s a pretty well-known psychological phenomenon.

#katara #zuko #zutara #the discourse #antikataang #antimaiko #flashing gif warning

[wooyunhwa]

kingdom of welcome addiction | five

view pinned post for masterlist / links to the rest of the parts!

Genre: smut (with plot), angst

Pairing: demon!san x fem!reader / ???yunho x fem!reader 

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: overstimulation, finger sucking, multiple orgasms, use of toys

Synopsis: Torn between two opposing forces competing for your attention, who will you choose? Will San’s secrets finally come to light?

A/N: Finally some backstory! Strap in! Thank you for reading and comments are super appreciated as always! <3 love you all

“I’ve been assigned to protect her.”

“From what?” San asked, relaxing his hostile stance back a bit. 

Yunho glanced at you, then back at San, uneasiness coming through in his gaze. 

“From you.”

“From me?” San laughed mockingly.

“They’re not happy with you, San. Up there.” Yunho gestured vaguely upwards. Was heaven actually up? 

“Tell me something I didn’t know,” San muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“I’m not talking about that,” Yunho said seriously. “I’m talking about you saving her. They take fate pretty seriously.” 

“So what, you’re like the protector of fate now? Give me a break,” he sneered, voice tinged with mockery. With the way they bickered, you’d think they were some old divorced couple. 

“You guys are talking like I’m not in the room. Can someone explain to me what’s going on?”

Yunho’s hand rubbed against your leg. You weren’t sure exactly how to feel about his touch now, knowing he was a celestial being and not just a cute human boy, but it did feel nice. Comforting somehow, even in this situation.  “When San saved you, he altered your fate.”

“You’re saying I’m supposed to be dead?”

“Well, yes. While you should be dead, we angels don’t exactly endorse killing humans, even if it was their fate. But that’s why I was reassigned. Your original guardian… well, he couldn’t watch over you any more.”

You felt as cynical as San for a minute, rolling your eyes at Yunho’s implication. “Sounds like the original guardian wasn’t doing a very good job then, if he was gonna let me die.”

San laughed from his position, poised against the counter top casually. His fangs glistened as his mouth formed a familiar smirk. “That’s my girl.” 

Yunho was entirely unamused, but turned to face you fully, face lingering entirely too close. “Either way, I’m here to watch over you now. Make sure he—” He shot a poisonous glare at San. “—doesn’t alter fate again. You’re in big trouble, by the way.” 

San smiled sarcastically, eyes like daggers as they met with Yunho. “What are they gonna do, hmm? Banish me?” He wiggled his fingers mockingly. “Oh no, I’m soooo scared.”  

“Anyway,” he pulled his gaze back to you now, eyes sparkling like the stars as they met with yours. The way he looked at you, you’d think you were the only two in the universe. “If this impulsive idiot hadn’t ruined it—” He shot another deathly glare at San. “—I was going to watch over you from here. As your classmate. Angels aren’t typically permitted to get this close to their assignments, but you’re a special case. I was given a lot of flexibility.”

“Oh, give me a fucking break,” San sneered through his teeth. “Classmate, my ass. I saw how your hands were all over her.”

“Don’t you have some souls to eat somewhere? Virgins to sacrifice?” Yunho taunted in his direction. 

“Fuck. Actually, I do. I’m getting a call.” San turned on his heels. “Don’t think I’m letting this one go,” he said, but he was gone before you could even get a parting word out to him. 

Your mind felt like it had been reduced to a steaming pile of mush after your conversation with the two of them—well, more like you listening to them bicker. Either way, there was too much information to take in at once. In a matter of minutes, your cute human crush became your cute angel guardian. Well, you supposed he always was, but the fact that you knew it made it feel so much more strange. 

But a few things hadn’t changed. 

He still sparkled like the stars to you. You had already fallen for him hopelessly, the minute you saw him walking into your classroom, you knew that to be fact. Nothing about your attraction to him had changed. Whether or not his ethereal glow was because he was incredibly handsome or  because he was very literally an angel changed any of that fact for you. His touch still gave you goosebumps. His soft smile in your direction still made your heart race. He was still the embodiment of light, glowing like a beautiful aurora. He radiated the positivity you needed so desperately.

And you were alone with him.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this,” he said, his hand still rested on your thigh. “About me being your guardian. I was hoping I could get to know you better first. Just as Yunho. I didn’t anticipate San showing up unannounced.”

You skipped right past his apology, needing answers. “So—Why? Why’d you kiss me? If I’m just your assignment?” you questioned angrily. But a part of you didn’t even want to ask him why. You just wanted to do it again. 

“It was genuine,” he promised. “It wasn’t planned. But it was genuine. We angels may not be human, but we have a bit more humanity than that demon. We have souls. They’re just not… bound by the human realm.”

You had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but he looked beautiful saying it. You felt like you couldn’t possibly take in any more information than you already had without completely losing it. You winced suddenly, noticing your head beginning to ache. 

“Y/N, are you okay? W—Would you like me to leave?” Yunho asked softly, sensing the look on your face. It was odd to have him asking. San usually just left whenever he wanted to, disappearing into the ether without a trace. 

“Leave? Do you just... disappear out of thin air like San does?” you asked seriously. 

Yunho chuckled, his laugh like music to your soul. “No, no. I’d have to walk out the door. And take the bus.”

“What kind of angel takes the bus?” you jested, assuming he was joking. 

“It’s part of my assignment. I’m not exactly human, but I don’t have all my angel powers either. I was supposed to blend in as much as possible. So I play by the laws of the universe now,” he chuckled. “Speaking of, just because I’m an angel, doesn’t mean I’m not actually worried about passing that class.” 

You burst into laughter at the ridiculousness. He was an angel who had to take the bus and do homework? What a shitty deal. You were enjoying his company, and you didn’t want him gone just yet. “To answer your earlier question, you can stay. You’re supposed to be protecting me, right? I’d feel safe if you were around.”

He smiled warmly. You realized his hand was still on your thigh, and his face a lot closer than you remembered. He looked so soft and inviting, and you remembered the way he kissed you earlier. It was soul-warming, like a comfort food you ate as a child, something your mom would make for you. 

“I’d love to stay and protect you. And not just because it’s my job,” he said charmingly, eyes forming into two cute crescents on his face. He was absolutely glowing. 

No matter how you looked at it, he and San were magnets with opposing forces, and yet they both drew you in equally. 

You leaned into a kiss without thinking, your eyes trained only on his soft, inviting lips. You melted into them as you collided, immediately overwhelmed with the gentle way his lips met yours. He reciprocated against you, hands moving from your thighs to cupping softly on the small of your waist, pulling you against him. Everything he did was passionate, yet tender. He handled you like the most delicate glass, like you could break at any moment and he would be there to put the pieces back together. You pushed your body against him, sinking into the soft, thick fabric of his sweater. He felt like a cloud. 

He was San’s very literal antithesis. And something in you needed that right now more than anything. 

You pushed your tongue in his mouth, indicating you wanted to escalate things. You fisted your hands into his pillowy sweater, grasping at him to pull him in closer against you. He moaned against your mouth, and the sound sent tingles all the way down your spine. 

But he pulled away, leaving you grasping desperately at the fabric of his sweater.

“I can’t do this in good conscience,” he said, brows furrowed with concern. Wow, he really was San’s antithesis. 

“Is it breaking angel code to make out with your assignment?”

“Well, no. Technically, I’m free to do whatever I want as a human bound here for now. I just want to make sure you’re not doing something you regret. It’s all very fast.”

You sighed, breaking away from him, though you craved his lips even more now that the taste lingered on your tongue. The silence felt deafening—you wanted to hear more of Yunho’s angelic moans against your ear. Moments like this made you miss San’s impulsivity. You knew if he was here he’d be all over you. 

“Can we cuddle, at least?” you asked, gaze drifting up and down from his soft lips to his even softer sweater. He was like a marshmallow you wanted to sink down into. He was everything you needed right now. Pure comfort. 

He nodded softly, repositioning himself against the arm of the loveseat. He motioned between his legs, creating a nice wedge for you to cuddle up in. You curled up against him, your head sinking down softly in the pillowy sweater. He wrapped his arms around you protectively. You weren’t sure, but you thought you heard him singing to you as you drifted to sleep. 

You woke up to a note on the fridge, scribbled neatly and punctuated with hearts and smiley faces. He was so effortlessly pure. Even his handwriting was cute.

Morning class, can’t miss! Sorry. See you in Advanced Religion? 

You couldn’t help but chuckle to yourself. What a dork. He’d just revealed himself as an angel, and yet he was worried about missing class? To be honest, you really couldn’t afford to miss any classes either, but there were so many unanswered questions still swirling around in your head. You needed San.

After cleaning yourself up thoroughly, you decided to summon him in your room, something you hadn’t done for a while. 

“Early for you to be calling me.” You swiveled on your heels, your face immediately met with San’s chest. You stumbled back a few steps, but he caught your waist in his arms, pulling you in to him. “Nice to hear you calling, darling. I’d say you smell sweet, but you reek of angel.” He glanced around suspiciously. “Is he still here?”

“No, he left before I even woke up.”

San sighed, then trained his gaze on you, crimson eyes lighting up like a fire. “Good. You know, I’ve missed you, lamb.” He drew his finger across your chin, tipping you up to his eyes like he always did before he wanted something. “Care to play with me this morning?”

You didn’t feel like entertaining his games right now. “No, not really. I have a lot of questions I need to be answered.”

“You’re no fun,” he pouted sarcastically, before leaning back against the desk in your room. “Alright, let’s get this over with before I get called elsewhere.”

“Earlier, you came in without being called. I thought I had to call you for you to appear. In the alley, too. How?”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead with two fingers, reluctant to answer your questions. “I can do it, but it’s a risk. Like working without a contract. Goes against the demon rulebook, or whatever. But I was willing to break some rules when I saw that angelic asshole with his hands all over you,” he said, putting extra spiteful emphasis into referring to Yunho.  

“You guys… have history, I take it?”

“It’s a long story. I’d rather not get into it right now,” he responded dismissively. “Anything else?”

“Were you watching me?”

“I—only a little. Just enough to see you mouth-fucking with that angel bitch,” he sneered through his teeth.

Damn. Touchy subject. 

“Are you trying to say we’re exclusive or something? Because that most certainly wasn’t the impression I got from this relationship.”

San’s eyes narrowed, pushing himself off the desk to close the distance between you. He ran a fingernail down your neck, making sure to drag over every bite mark. “No. We’re not. But I feel... protective of you.”

“Well then don’t worry about Yunho. It’s his job to protect me.”

San rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t say he’s exactly trustworthy,” he grumbled under his breath, then quickly focused back on your neck. “Ugh, darling, won’t you let me have a little fun? I’ve had a rough week.”

You pulled away, dropping your gaze. “I—I need to go. To school. I’m late.”

San clicked his tongue, looking at you with a look of displeasure. “You’re really no fun. You’re the one who called me here, lamb. No tears? No blood? Not even a taste of your lips?” 

“Bye, San. Don’t come back unless you’re called, understand? Or I’m done making contracts.” You met his eyes seriously. “Forever.”

Seeing Yunho at school was… strange, to say the least, after his big reveal to you. You had made a routine of getting there early just to watch him come through the door, and your new information about his job didn't change any of that. 

It seemed like the other girls in class caught on to getting there early too, seated expectantly for him to walk through the door, tall and model-esque. You'd even heard girls whispering about him in the halls—the new blue haired boy who every girl on campus wanted a piece of. They drew their heads up as he ascended the lecture hall stairs to make his usual seat next to you, like they were watching a celebrity. 

Inspiration struck. As he sat down next to you, you gave him a flirtatious wink, then pulled him in for a casual, but slightly drawn out kiss. You let your lips linger against his for a few seconds afterwards, eating up the jealous stares of your classmates. You wanted to mark him yours. After all, he was your guardian. 

He looked at you with wide eyes, and you took his hand, lacing his fingers in yours. “Go with it,” you whispered discreetly in his direction. 

He gave your hand a light squeeze, leaning back in to give you a soft peck on the cheek to seal the deal. 

And just like that, he played the role of your college boyfriend. But it was just a role. Acting. In a sick way, you loved the jealous, spiteful stares you got as you walked down the hall with him. And he was able to keep a closer eye on you without being hunted down by every girl on campus trying to flirt with him. It was a mutual agreement. 

You were still entirely enamored by him, you crush in full bloom. Playing the role of his girlfriend was satisfying, but not in the way you needed it to be. He was sweet, but distant—you assumed he was trying his best to stay objective, to not get too wrapped up in his assignment. But you wanted so much more.

He sometimes came over to your place to study, and you rarely even mentioned his angelic presence. He requested that you treat him normally, like any other human, although that was pretty much asking the impossible. He certainly wasn’t, and would never be, like any other human. 

He still glowed like an aurora and sparkled like the stars. You wanted to cuddle up into him and never let go. You wanted to spend your days nestled in his arms. A few times, you did, falling asleep curled up on his chest on the couch like you had the first day he came over. 

But you couldn't help but want more.

Your lonely nights had made you needy. 

Yunho wasn't quite ready to go there with you yet, as he very clearly defined when you came onto him the first night he came over, and you'd been avoiding San like the plague. Not that it was hard—all you needed to do was not summon him. And you hadn't, for a while actually. 

But your hand wasn't doing it for you today. You needed more. You needed San.

You were partly joking about him being your demon prostitute, but he kind of was now that you were calling him exclusively to get you off.  Not that you were complaining about that. You were trying to distance yourself from him emotionally, but that didn't mean you couldn't have him help you with your physical needs. 

You put on your best set of lingerie, a black lacy set you weren’t really even sure why you had, and displayed yourself sexily on the bed. Not that you needed lingerie to entice San, but you figured it couldn’t hurt. 

He appeared with a low growl, eyes immediately glazing over with lust. “What’s this darling? Finally want to have a little fun?”

“I want a contract, San. I don’t care what you do for me—clean my kitchen, make me dinner, I don’t care—but your reward is my body. Take it or leave it.”

“Very forward of you today,” he said with an amused smirk. “I like it.”

“Your answer?”

“Fine, I accept. But I have a condition.”

He wasn’t in much of a position to give conditions, but you nodded, urging him to continue. 

“You’ve left me waiting for so long. I want to have a little fun with my prey first, hmm? That vibrator in there.” He gestured his head to your nightstand, the top drawer where you kept your pink silicone vibrator. It was small, compact, and admittedly expensive. It also came with a fully customizable bluetooth remote.  “It’s remote, right?”.

“It’s remote capable, yeah.”

His lips pulled into a sinister smile, eyes darkening, and you realized what was happening.

“I want to watch you squirm. I love watching you. My helpless little lamb," he cooed, stepping over to your nightstand to pull it out.

“Wait, but how did you know that was—”

“I may or may not have done some snooping in your room while you were asleep the other night.” He flashed you his fangs, eyes glimmering playfully. “You should know not to trust a demon, darling.” He twirled the vibrator between his fingers, glancing from it to you, still laying in wait on the bed. “Did you put on that pretty number just for me? You look… delicious in it.” He drew his tongue over his teeth, then took a seat on the edge of the bed. 

His hand traced over your skin, from your neck down to your breasts, stomach, hips, then between your legs, circling your clit through your panties. You had missed his touch desperately, although if you were being honest, it wasn’t his you necessarily missed. You missed intimate touch at all. 

He leaned forward to plant a kiss, surprisingly gentle, swiping his tongue over your bottom lip. “Tonight’s about you, my lamb. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to have my fun.”

You were already wet before he got here, hopelessly horny and waiting for his arrival. You were now even more so. The lace of your panties was completely soaked as he danced his fingers across it. He pulled the seam of the lingerie to the side, just enough to slip the vibrator inside of you. His other hand held the remote. His eyes were fixed on you, power erupting beneath his crimson irises. 

He had you literally in the palm of his hand. The smallest touch on the remote, and he was completely in control. He did not take that power lightly. He turned it on, the light buzz immediately sending vibrations through you like waves. Your mind soared in pleasure, whimpers escaping from your lips.

“That’s cute. That’s just the low setting, darling,” he cooed, pressing the lace of your panties back between your legs. He pressed a hand on your stomach, feeling the way your core trembled under his touch. “To your feet,” he commanded suddenly. “C’mon.”

You wobbled up off the bed, and he cranked up the intensity to the highest setting the second your feet met the floor. Your legs buckled underneath you, and a smirk passed over his lips as he watched you, weak like putty in his hands. 

He pushed you to your knees beneath him, standing tall as his hooded gaze fell on you from above, dark and lust. He praised you sweetly as his hand gripped in your hair, tightening his grip as he toyed with the buttons on the vibrator. You trembled as the vibrations rocked through you. Every so often he would stop the sensations completely, stopping to pet your head softly and sing you praises, only to push up the intensity to full and grip his fingers tighter in your hair. Your head spun with neediness, practically dripping around the vibrator sunk deep inside you. 

He lifted your chin with his fingertip, tilting your head up almost 90 degrees. You whined as the vibrations teased you torturously, it had felt like hours he was watching you, a satisfied smile curled on his lips as he watched you writhe and shake at the mercy of his fingertips. Your whining grew louder, orgasm firing through you so intensity you could barely keep yourself upright. Only the tugging of his hands in your hair kept you up on your knees. 

"That's a good, good girl. So pretty when you’re shaking," he praised sweetly. 

He brought his hand to your mouth, parting your lips slightly by tugging down on your teeth, then shoved two fingers in. You sucked them enthusiastically, eating up the noises that escaped him at watching you gag on his fingers. He shoved them in farther, and you gagged a bit. Right on cue, he pushed up the intensity of the vibrations. You shook and moaned against his fingers as the vibrations rocked through you again, and this time you were much more sensitive. He watched the look on your face twist as he switched the pace from fast to slow, thrusting his fingers in every so often to hear your gagged breaths. 

“Such a dirty girl, getting off choking on my fingers. Embarrassing, really. But cute,” he cooed, shoving his fingers in your mouth one last time as he cranked up the intensity on the remote, then pulling them out with a trail of saliva. 

He sent you over the edge again. And again. Your knees started to burn lightly against the carpet as he toyed with you over, and over, and over. You weren’t sure how many times you’d come. You lost count at some point. Drool pooled at the corner of your mouth, body sore from writhing and shaking, every muscle contracting again and again. “Good, good girl,” he praised again, stroking your hair softly. “Tired, lamb? I may have gone a little overboard. I couldn’t help it. You’re just so cute when you’re helpless under me.”

You breathed heavily, unable to make words. Your brain was pleasured mush, entirely blissed from the at least five orgasms you had. “Tired…” you muttered, glancing up at him through heavy eyes. 

“I know. You did good.” He raised you up, supporting you by the waist as you stumbled weakly to your feet. Your legs were jello, and you weren’t sure if you could even make it to bed. San seemed to know that too, as he lifted you effortlessly, placing you on your bed gingerly. He helped you remove the vibrator, your body trembling as it slipped out. He even offered a change of clothes and helped you slip into them. Why was he being so nice? 

Your eyes were heavy, body completely wrecked from the orgasms. You didn’t remember much after that. The whole world went black at some point.

When you woke up, there was a note on your nightstand:

I cleaned the apartment for you. Consider the contract complete. xoxo demon maid 

Studying with Yunho became a nightly habit, replacing your bedroom rendezvous with San. That wasn’t to say you didn’t summon him sometimes to fulfill... certain needs, but that was beside the point. 

You were caught between the two of them them, both pulling you in opposite directions, both fulfilling different needs for you. You felt guilty, flirting with Yunho in the daytime and summoning San at night to sate your desires. But there was something in you that still wasn’t ready to let San go. 

He’d been on your mind recently, San. Despite all the cards being out on the table, he was still particularly vague about one thing: his history with Yunho. 

"Yunho I—I need to ask you something."

He turned his eyes to you, and his smile was warm and inviting. "Anything." 

"It's about San." 

Yunho broke his gaze, his sunshine smile fading. "I told you, I didn't want to—"

"How do you know him?"

"What do you mean?"

"He said you were a former colleague. Did you work with him before? Can angels even work with demons?"

Yunho sighed, rubbing his neck apprehensively. "I shouldn't be tell—"

"I already know too much. What's one more thing?"

He chuckled lightly, the heavenly sound ringing in your ears like a lullaby. "I suppose you have a point. But… you can't tell San I told you this."

Your hand came up, zipping your mouth closed with a wink. "Consider it locked away." 

“Alright, well… San wasn’t always a demon. He used to be an angel. We worked together. We were… friends. A long time ago, at least.”

They were friends? You couldn’t ever imagine them getting along.

“What happened?”

“He fell for a human. His assignment. I wouldn’t say that’s typical, but it happens. I don’t blame him for that.” Yunho dropped his gaze, gritting his teeth. “An angel who has fallen for a human… they usually experience the grief of loss, and move on. There’s nothing in angel code that says you can’t experience love. But San has always been... more impulsive than most. And he made a mistake.”

Your heart dropped in your chest. “What—what kind of mistake?” 

“He wanted to make a deal, with a crossroads demon. The deal would prolong her life, but he would be forever indentured to the demon. He didn’t care… as you probably already know, he’s impulsive.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his neck in thought. His expression was pained, regretful.  “I—I was the only angel he told about making the deal. He trusted me, but I ratted him out. He was making a huge mistake… I couldn’t let him sell his soul away like that.”

“So he made the deal?”

“No. They got to him in time. But he broke a lot of angel codes when he made that plan, and I was witness to his confession. They tried his case, but he was never very well liked by the committee. And so they banished him.” 

You fell silent, unable to form the right words. Yunho’s eyes were big, glistening with what looked like the beginning of tears.

“He would never say it, but I know he blames me for his human’s death. If I hadn’t have told them about his plans, she wouldn’t have died then. But… I couldn’t let him sell his soul to the crossroads demon. At the time, I never imagined he’d be banished. I thought they would just stop him from making the deal, maybe suspend him for a few weeks. But not banished.”

“So, angels who are banished become demons then?” 

“They don’t have to. They just can’t carry out their angel duties anymore. And they’re stripped of their wings. He was hurt. Scared, I’m sure. He had nowhere left to turn. He sold his angel soul to become a demon, for the promise of a life of fulfillment. However twisted it was.”

You dropped your gaze, falling completely silent for a while. None of Yunho’s story connected with the dark, bloodthirsty San you knew. You couldn’t imagine what he was like as an angel. Did he sparkle like the stars? Did he smell like heaven itself? Was his smile like the sunshine too? 

Yunho’s voice broke through the silence. “I answered your question. Now you answer one for me.”

His serious expression suddenly made you uneasy. "Is it this last homework question?" you joked, but Yunho's face was unamused. 

"San…” His eyes met with yours, soft and earnest. “...do you love him?"

Your eyes went wide. “Do I love San? No… no.” You shook your head a few too many times, as if you were trying to convince yourself, not Yunho. “Our relationship is purely business. We exchange... services. That's all.” Your hand came up to your neck involuntary, feeling the faint remaining scars of his bite marks.

“Then why do you keep him around? You're beautiful.” Your heart fluttered for a minute at his fleeting compliment. How could such an otherworldly handsome being think you were beautiful?

“You don't need his… services. He's nothing but trouble. I know you know that.” 

“Maybe I'm attracted to trouble.”

"Well, you're attracted to me, too, right?" Your breath caught in your chest. Heat rose in your face, staining your cheeks an incriminating bright red. You opened your mouth hesitantly, but he didn't give you the chance to answer. "So maybe you don't need a bad boy after all?" 

"You said it yourself, Yunho. You need to focus on protecting me. No complications." 

He leaned in closer, setting his hand gently on your cheek. A chill rolled through your spine. "What if I changed my mind?" 

You pulled your lips against his, melting against him softly. You wanted him. Yunho. The ethereal boy that stole your heart the moment you saw him. But now, your mind saw only San. Why? Why could you only see his face?

You didn’t see the San you knew, though. You didn’t see demon San, you saw angel San. The one you could only imagine. You saw the San with a soft, peaceful smile, highlighted by the cute dimples on his cheeks. You saw the San who would risk his life for the one he loved, no matter the cost. You saw the San who made a mistake, and paid his soul for it. 

Your heart ached. You pulled away from Yunho suddenly, a single tear rolling from your eyes at first, followed by a river.

He didn’t ask you why, he only pulled you into him tightly, wrapping his long arms around you in the most comforting hug. You nuzzled into his neck, taking in his scent—he smelled like fresh rain on a spring morning.

It would have been so simple just to choose Yunho. He was the obvious choice. Beautiful, warm, kind—he was everything you could ever need. 

So why could you only think of San?

#choi san smut #san smut #yunho smut #ateez smut #jeong yunho smut #hongjoong smut #mingi smut #yeosang smut #ateez demon au

[de-cryptid]

Behind the curtain.

I’ll cut to the chase and simply state outright who I believe, and am almost certain, is behind the social media presence of Simon Alkenmayer.

Kristina Meister.

Kristina deleted her blog yesterday as of posting so I can’t link directly to it for the posts I am going to discuss and showcase here. I will be providing links that preserve their existence, however, so you don’t have to take me at my word alone.

For context: In Simon's world (which is how I will refer to the unreality that is his existence and supposed life), Kristina was his editor for The Creature's Cookbook and also the foot-in-the-door that is the publishing industry. She pitched the autobiography on his behalf, bringing it to Tapas media.

They maintained a friendship, both outside of the internet and here on tumblr. However, one day a fire was set in Kristina's driveway, leading her to what can reasonably be described as hysteria.

Here is an archived link to her reaction.

TL;dr is that she believes @simonalkenmayerisdead to be the only person in the world who could have possibly made a connection between her and Simon (despite the fact they actively engaged with each other on multiple social medias, that and there are far more people on tumblr that know of Simon than his critics) and threatened a multitude of legal action.

Here, The Fool explains the issue with the accusations levied against him and his followers.

Reading the exchanges between Simon, The Fool, and Kristina is what made it clear to me that Simon is Kristina. A lot of those posts are long gone due to Kristina's blog deletion, and are otherwise far too tedious to hunt down on Simon's blog, but they are quite similar to that which is linked above.

You can probably tell there's a level of irrationality (an understatement honestly) in Kristina's posts regarding the fire and her general demeanour.

As she and Simon have each other's personal contact information, which she herself showed a screenshot of, I think it's strange for Simon to respond publicly in the way he did. She's clearly not in a good mental state to be online, discussing a traumatic event, throwing accusations, cussing at and threatening her dissenters.

He's a long-lived observer of humans, in his world, and instead of recognizing this to be the behaviour of someone who isn't in the right frame of mind to be speaking about their circumstances to a substantial audience of presumably a few ill-intentioned people, he endorses everything she says and encourages her to continue on her rants.

Is it not obvious that this isn't accomplishing anything but potentially harming her more? She's shown the suspect that their tactic succeeded. She revealed her vulnerabilities in regards to her child and marriage. Simon, as a friend and the supposed cause for all this, should know better than to further feed into the anonymous attacks on his associate and instead handle it on a personal level.

But that isn't what happened.

The only way for someone to respond in the manner Simon did is for them to be as equally emotionally involved and irrational as Kristina herself is, which is clear from the notes where Simon's loyal audience reacts in a similarly distressed and irrational voice.

That's human behaviour, not that of a people-eating centuries-old non-mammalian monster who has watched famine ravage civilizations, killed countless individuals, and adapted despite it all.

But moving on, as I'm sure that in and of itself isn't enough for some people.

Let's turn our attention to The Creatures Cookbook itself. It's framed as a diary, meaning it was written in real-time and built upon over years, not as an autobiography. This is suspect for reasons I'll discuss further on.

I'd like to begin with the book's publishing history. It was first in print thanks to Fuse Literary, as can be seen in this post from their website, then moved onto the Tapas app (where it remains to this day).

Simon himself says that his book is "out of print", which is why it's not available as a physical copy outside of second-hand nowadays. This is not exactly true; fuse literary dropped the book. He isn't being represented by them anymore. Tapas, which is more of a pulp app where anyone can publish most anything, is not just the new medium he selected dutifully to act out the experiment more effectively; it was a last resort for a book people simply weren't interested in.

The Fool explains this quite well here.

I'd also like to reiterate something touched upon in that linked post; Simon lied about meeting his publisher, either in 2014 in that incredibly descriptive post about his agent and their experience with Tapas, or to that anonymous asker. Why is this? If the original post was incorrect, or no longer what Simon wanted readers to believe, wouldn't it make more sense to delete it? That or he, likely, forgot what was originally said about his publisher and simply made up a response for the asker. His memory spans centuries, and clearly that experience was a vivid one, given his description, but he couldn't keep consistent on his public social media. I find this suspect for many reasons.

Going back to Fuse Literary, we have articles that directly state Kristina is "writing as" Simon, which he has stated in the past was out of necessity to preserve his identity (which is somewhat contradictory, seeing as he claims that the government is aware of his species and him specifically, and also his aim is to convince people he does in fact exist).

Needless to say, a lot of little things just don't add up. Instead, they point to Kristina using Simon's character and presence as an outlet of sorts. He is an identity she assumes.

Here is another clue I stumbled upon, regarding Kristina's other writing endeavours.

Let's talk Cinderella Boy.

So Kristina is both a freelance editor (as Simon states she was for him) and a writer herself, with several published books. Easily her highest reviewed and most popular is called Cinderella Boy, a story about LGBTQ struggles from the perspective of a high school boy. I went through the reviews a while back and a lot were positive! But I noticed that many of those positive reviews were people who knew Kristina through Simon and already liked his character, his voice, his style.

And Cinderella Boy is very much the same.

I linked the Goodreads page above and recommend you go through reviews yourself to better understand what I mean, but below I will show one of the negative reviews that is... Very telling. (Click and swipe through, it's a long one)

And this wasn't the only person saying these sorts of things, either. Again, I recommend seeing for yourself. Here's another excerpt from a different review:

I want to focus in on the "70 year old philosophers" bit. The other review above said something similar about the overly deep and philosophical dialogue.

Sound familiar?

It appears Kristina's writing style happens to be that old-timey philosophically-bent verbose kind, highly reminiscent of Simon himself.

I found this rather funny. You'd think writing a modern YA would have a skilled writer attempting to make the character interactions more relatable and... Well, realistic.

It appears Kristina only has the one setting, however. And that happens to sound exactly the way Simon talks.

I will be going in-depth with the factual errors in Simon's historical assertions in the future, so I'll hold off on those for now, but a previous post of mine shows a clear miscalculation on the part of Simon's creator googling something and applying it to Simon's world, without realizing it was factually incorrect. You can see that here.

To conclude this very long post, I want to make it clear that I do not hate Kristina nor Simon, I am not posting this to harass either of them. I am only interested in making it clear that Simon is not an all-knowing cryptid and is not a reliable voice. Simon is a human creation and his readers should be aware of that. Seek real, professional help if you are looking for some advice. Do not think that an elaborate roleplay is an appropriate substitute.

#long post #simon alkenmayer #kristina meister

[tomeandflickcorner]

Falcon and Winter Soldier Episode 1- My Thoughts

Under the cut due to potential spoilers:

Sam’s plotline:

So, despite Steve’s obvious endorsement of him as his successor, Sam is feeling unworthy to take up the mantle of the new Captain America.  So he donates the shield to the Smithsonian, where it is placed on exhibit.  But he’s still apparently doing work for the military/air force as Falcon in stopping terrorist hijackings and the like (which leads to a pretty amazing areal action sequence.)  I’m guessing the stupid Accords were put through the shredder after the events of Infinity War/Endgame?  At least I hope so, because that was a mess and a half.  Also, he’s now got a friend and ally, Joaquin, who is working to stop some other terrorist group called the Flag Smashers that apparently thought Thanos had the right idea, and that things were better during the five years where all those people were dusted.  But Joaquin’s attempt at putting a stop to this group’s attempt at a bank heist(?) ends pretty badly, as the guy who I guess orchestrated the bank heist is apparently super strong and effortlessly kicked Joaquin’s butt.  My first thought was that this guy was one of the other Winter Soldiers, as we know Bucky wasn’t the only person Hydra turned into a brainwashed pawn.  But I then read something abut how they were all essentially unceremoniously killed off.   If that’s true, I don’t remember that particular detail, but it’s been a while since I watched the movies.  So I’m hoping they eventually explain who this tough guy is.  Did the Flag Smashers manage to get their hands on their own version of the super serum, or is there another explanation?  Looking forward to seeing how this will develop, as I imagine the Flag Smashers will be the main Big Bad in this series.

Meanwhile, Sam’s got some normal civilian drama to deal with, as we meet his sister and two nephews.  (Can’t remember if it was stated, but was Sarah Sam’s younger sister?  If so, that must be awkward since Sarah might be older than Sam now. It’s heavily implied she and the two nephews remained while Sam was among those lost in the Snap.  They have a family-inherited fishing business that Sarah has been trying to keep afloat (no pun intended), and Sam was supposed to be assisting with it, but he’s been gone for the past five years (through no fault of his own).  Now, the family fishing business is having some financial issues, and they could even lose the house if they can’t make ends meet.  Sam has an idea on how to save the business and the house by starting up a boat charter business on the side.  But they have to get a loan from the bank in order to make it happen.  And even though the banker is clearly a fan of Sam (or rather his Falcon identity), he can’t give them the loan they need, because.... some explanation involving how Sam didn’t have any form of income for the past five years. Which, again, wasn’t his fault because he literally didn’t exist during those five years.  Not like that matters to the bank, though, as there were a lot of people who were wiped out of existence and then came back, so the banks have their hands full with those cases.  Here, we get some social commentary on how difficult it is for Black-owned businesses to get an advantage.  Rather bold of the MCU series to go there. I’m impressed.  There’s also even more social commentary on how military veterans can get the shaft.  Because that’s exactly what Sam is.  He served in the air force for a time.  And he still has some government contracts and whatnot.  Plus, he was one of the Avengers and literally helped save the world on more than one occasion.  But despite all that, the government doesn’t properly compensate him financially.  Meaning he gets all these people thanking him for being a hero, and even posing with him for selfies.  But that’s pretty much all the thanks he gets.  When he needs help getting back to everyday civilian stuff, he’s more or less on his own.  Again, rather bold of the MCU to address that.  

And of course, we get the final scene, where it’s revealed that the American government has decided to select a new Captain America. Of course, you get the feeling that they just selected him to be a mascot for the public to rally around rather than an actual hero (which is kinda what they were using Steve for in the beginning.) Even so, I do agree with people who see this as rather scummy. Because when Sam turned over the Shield to the Smithsonian, they told him that he was doing the right thing. And now they just take the Shield and hand it over to some random White guy? Even if you ignore the whole racial aspect, it still is practically spitting on Steve’s legacy, considering Sam was his chosen successor, not this guy. Of course, this new guy is apparently John Walker, who did appear in the comics as someone who briefly held the mantle of Captain America. But it’s too soon to tell how closely the MCU John Walker will resemble his comic book counterpart. That being said, I fully expect the series to lead up to Sam realizing he does deserve to be the next Captain America and take back the title.

Bucky’s Plotline:

Interestingly, even though Bucky and Sam share equal billing with this show, Bucky’s plotline was more of a side note in this first episode.  Not that it wasn’t important to his characterization, of course. Since the events of Endgame, he’s received a full pardon from the government for the things he’d done as Hydra’s brainwashed assassin and is now trying to adjust to living the life of an ordinary man. He’s even going to therapy!  Which is a really good thing, as goodness knows he needs it.  But I don’t much care for his therapist.  She seems like a pretty crappy therapist, to be honest. Personally, I think Bucky should find a different one, but I think it was mentioned this therapy was mandated as part of his government-issued pardon.  So maybe he doesn't get a say in who his therapist is.  Anyway, Bucky is still haunted by the things he was forced to do as the Winter Soldier.  And he’s trying to make amends for the things he did during that time. Because even though none of that was his fault, he still remembers everything and feels guilty because of it. In this episode, we see him forging a friendship with this old man.  At first, I was slightly confused on who this old man was.  I briefly wondered if this was supposed to be one of the other Howling Commandos who Steve and Bucky fought alongside in WW2.  But as the episode progresses, it’s revealed that the old man was the father of a young man Bucky killed as the Winter Soldier.  And Bucky has been trying to figure out how he can make amends to the father, who is clearly haunted by the loss of his son.  Man, that is really dark.  Not to mention messed up.  How does one make up for something like this?  Especially since the dead son wasn’t even the Hydra-appointed target.  He had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.  (And yes, the fact that the dead son and grieving father are Asian makes it slightly more uncomfortable due to the recent events down in Georgia. Though I don’t think we can blame the show creators for that. They could hardly go back and refilm everything with different actors in those roles. Not without pushing the show back who knows how long.) Anyway, I’m curious to see how Bucky continues on from here, and if he can find the peace of mind he deserves. Oh, also, he does go on this impromptu date with a woman who works at a sushi restaurant. That was rather cute, but also a bit awkward since Bucky is still a bit closed off, for understandable reasons. And this woman clearly doesn’t know who he is and how much he went through. She doesn’t even know about his metal arm. Still, props to Bucky for trying to adjust and move forward. (And I literally laughed out loud when he tried to stop the beckoning cat statue from moving). On a side note, the flashback/nightmare he experiences about the night he killed the old man’s son was both chilling and well done. Especially with the inclusion of the Winter Soldier theme that is playing throughout the scene. The fact that you also can hear it when Bucky is listening to the old man talking about his son was a really great touch. Anyway, I just really want to see Bucky get the hug he deserves.

#falcon and winter soldier #falcon and winter solider series

[patriotforthekingdom]

Cardi B & Cancel Culture

Welcome to Patriot for the Kingdom!

Thanks for joining me on this deep dive into politics and culture, how it relates to our christian faith, and what you can do to help make a difference. Starting today, we will be taking a look at some of the major things that are hitting the mainstream media (MSM), as well as other things that are flying more under the radar…for now. I will try my best to find the viewpoint that Jesus would have on the situations that we are faced with in all that is going on in our country today.

Let’s jump in!

I’m sure you’ve heard of or seen the video from the Grammy’s this past weekend of Cardi B performing her well-known song “WAP” which you may or may not know what it stands for… I’ll let you look that up yourself. If you didn’t see it live, like myself, (and nearly all of the country as the viewership was down to an all-time-low 8.8 million, down 53% from last year), heres a link to watch it for yourself [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnBZLFB7kLo].

Seen it now? Ok.

This is what the left is trying to tell us is a good role model. This is what the left is trying to tell us is power, unity, and good for our children. Dr. Suess? That’s RACIST! Kids can’t be reading that! They can’t be looking at those cartoon images that may be portraying someone of a different ethnicity than them! Mr. Potato Head? Thats transphobic! You can’t tell Mr. Potato Head that he is, in fact, a mister! What if he doesn’t feel like he’s a mister? Well guess what, and I hate to say it but…HE’S STILL A MISTER! The left wants to say constantly that they are all about “the science” however, when the science does not actually line up with their agenda (which it usually doesn’t), they either ignore it or create their own fake science and fake studies. We’ve seen many instances of both over the past year of the “deadly” China virus, and we’ll dig into them as we go along. Sorry, we don’t have enough time to catch up on alllllllllllll the happenings over the past year in this one post.

For now, let’s take a look at what God says about just these few issues of Cardi B and cancel culture taking out Dr. Suess and Mr. Potato Head and many others which have popped up over the past couple weeks.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” I don’t know about you, but as I was reading that verse, the first thing that came to my mind wasn’t Cardi B’s performance at the Grammy’s. In fact, I would personally consider that to be the opposite of each of those things. God tells us, through his word, to flee from sin and things that may cause you to sin. WAP may be exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26.41). If the name alone didn’t tell you all you needed to know about Cardi B and that song, it is pretty easy to see from God’s word that Jesus would not endorse this.

Stepping over to Dr. Suess and Mr. Potato Head… I won’t lie, nowhere in the Bible does it say “The Cat in the Hat must be the 67th book of the Bible and Green Eggs and Ham is to be the 68th book.” But God makes it very clear in Genesis that “He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created” (5:2). Unsurprisingly, God and science are in lockstep here, where the science indeed will tell you that there are only two genders, male and female. The left is trying to create a division in our society, by two of the most surface-level distinguishing factors possible, our race and gender. They do not want to see the day that MLK was talking about when he said “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Sure they say that’s exactly what they want, but actions speak louder than words. Look at cancel culture as a whole…Uncle Ben? Cancelled. Aunt Jemima? Cancelled. Cleveland Indians? Cancelled. Washington Redskins? Cancelled. How long until every black or non-white figure is removed from our country? Does that sound like something that is creating a path to equality? Not at all. God sees no color. All he sees is his beautiful creation, regardless of shape, size or color. Acts 10:34-35 says “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

We don’t need our children looking towards Cardi B to tell them how to live or Black Lives Matter telling them who matters. We need our children to look to Jesus for these answers in the Bible, because he knows the beginning and the end. He knows that we all matter equally to him, and that’s all that matters.

Soon, cancel culture will be trying to take Jesus out, just like it already has in China, North Korea, and many other countries in the world. Now is the time to fight back harder than ever before. How can you do this? Do things like reading this blog, invite friends to church (and I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m going to, if you’re not GOING TO church, GO TO CHURCH…IN CHURCH), get involved in your church, read the curriculum being taught to your children, attend school board meetings, teach your children why some of the things their teachers tell them isn’t true, pray for our political leaders and many more things that we will cover in future posts. If everyone simply hit on each of these points, we would see an unbelievable amount of change in our country.

We must build up an army of patriots for the kingdom.

#patriot #kingdom #politics #christianity

[mneiai]

So, I have a thing to say about AO3 I've said a few times, but people don't generally want to listen:

Kudos probably don't mean what most of you think they mean.

I'm going to try to break this down to make it as clear as possible:

To access the meaning that AO3 gives kudos, it takes multiple not entirely clear steps on mobile and ends up with this as the first two paragraphs:

The word "kudos" is from the ancient Greek, meaning "glory" or "renown". One modern definition is "praise given for achievement".

As an Archive feature, kudos are a quick and easy way to let a creator know that you like their work. Once you successfully leave kudos on a work, there will be a message that says "Thank you for leaving kudos!"

First off, those two paragraphs are somewhat contradictory: the word kudos means something much stronger than just to "like" a fic. Which means some people are going to take it to mean kudos should be given out like an award for very amazing fics, whereas some people are going to go with that second paragraph, and give it out for any fic they even kind of like.

Beyond that, some people see kudos as encouragement or endorsement and leave them on fics they don't even necessarily like, but it might be a small fandom they want to make more active or a ship they want to see more content for, and hope that the writer will continue and eventually write something they like.

Worse, you can never take a kudos back. You can edit or delete a comment later on, but if you press kudos by accident, or on the first chapter of a WIP and 30 chapters later you actually hate it, there's no way to get that kudos off of there, meaning it can give a false impression. (I myself have had that problem and now rarely leave kudos on anything but finished works, after one fic suddenly became incredibly racist and there was no way to ever get that near-endorsement of a kudos with my username off of it)

Kudos can also only be left once on a work, so they actually have significantly more value on a one-shot than on a multi-chapter fic. There's near constant complaints by people about this.

Which leads into the next point: people see kudos as equal to comments and, if they've left kudos, will not bother leaving comments. This is especially bad for anyone who does multichapter fics because, again, these people leave kudos exactly once and then it's radio silence from a not insignificant amount of them. They won't even give a "good chapter!" comment but will get on here and right a whole post about how annoying it is to not be able to leave kudos every chapter. This means kudos are actually giving people an easy out to not give the writers "praise" for their "achievement" and could be actively damaging the motivations of writers who do think kudos matter.

Because, a lot of writers are posting fic on AO3 because of the interactions it gives them. We're writing "for ourselves" but also not really. I love having people ask (non-asshole-y) questions about my work or dive into the canon I'm referencing with me, or whatever else. I won't generally change my fics for a commenter, but sometimes I will consider their points of view and insights with what I'm writing. When someone leaves a kudos, that doesn't give me any of that. In fact, they just get shoved into this digest email that's a little hard to read and I mostly just glance it over and then eagerly move onto the comments.

In conclusion: Kudos have an ambiguous meaning and cannot be used to quantify actual support for a work. Giving or not giving kudos has too many possible motivations to say they definitely mean someone loves a fic (or that someone doesn't even like a fic) and receiving or not receiving kudos will also be interpreted different per writer because of their own policies on kudos giving.

#ao3 #'good chapter' comments are worth like 20 kudos #because they're unambiguous and can be edited if the person actually meant something else

[xiaq]

Well you've been doing research about redemption/recovery arcs for a paper or something, right? And you asked for a bunch of HP recs. What's your own head-canon for ignoring Rowlings "happily ever after"? I'd love to read that.

Yes, hello. I want you to know that I was thinking about this abstractly today and you may have just opened a can of worms because I started writing a thing.

The war was over. Or at least that’s what the papers said. They’d been saying it, for months, as if people needed reminding. Maybe they did. Maybe others found it just as easy to forget. Maybe they, like Harry, often ducked at sudden movements, flinched at loud noises, and sometimes, inexplicably, found breathing an uncertain and laborious task. Maybe they went to sleep with ghosts and woke up with guilt and spent a little too long, eyes closed, head submerged, in the bath. The war was over. But what happens to heroes when wars are over? When prophesies are satisfied and evil is defeated. Heroes are supposed to live happily ever after, Harry thinks. But he doesn’t know what that looks like. How that happens.There aren’t stories about that part. He wishes there were because he’s eighteen and living in an empty house with a second inheritance and a job offer and thousands of owl-post letters thanking him and asking him for interviews and—he feels simultaneously ancient and infantile.   He is so, so tired. But he also wants someone to tell him what to do. To tell him what comes after the fighting and the death and the supposed victory. Maybe the better question is: what happens to weapons when wars are over? Because that’s what he is, Harry realizes, and perhaps it is an embarrassingly delayed realization. After all, he had been carefully honed: by ignorance and cruelty and finally, maybe worst of all, affection. His abusive childhood was not just a thing overlooked or allowed, but curated, to make him more reckless, more desperate, more stupidly, fiercely, loyal. More willing to die. It was effective, though, wasn’t it? He’d saved the world. And now he was—he didn’t know. He took Kingsley’s offer to join the Aurors. Of course he did. It was expected. It only occurred to him later to ask why a traumatized teenager without completed schooling or any legitimate credentials would be given that dispensation. But by the time it occurred to him to ask, he already knew the answer. The ministry of magic did not need a weapon, not anymore. But they did need a figurehead. He was the boy who lived twice. The savior. Harry, photographed at crime scenes, returned widespread public approval to the ministry. Harry’s endorsement determined the success or failure of politicians’ runs. Of legislation. Of books and brooms and fucking soap. He shook hands and held his tongue. He learned the right lines. He wore the right clothes. But. You can put a sword on a wall. You can shine it and mount it on mahogany and show it off as nothing more than decoration. But it is still a sword. And Harry is still a weapon. Harry realizes this on an otherwise ordinary Monday, that starts, early, as most days do, with the lingering feeling of nightmare blood on his hands. When the day ends, the blood is real. When the day ends, so does the last of his willingness to pretend. So he goes home and he emails Hermione and he sends an owl with his resignation to Kingsley. He packs a bag, and floos to the international travel office. And he stands in front of the permanent portkey map and chooses the most obscure, ridiculous, location. Somewhere with more livestock than people. With no expectations. With enough space and open air that maybe his lungs will stop feeling claustrophobic in his chest. Where he won’t be able to hurt anyone. He picks somewhere no one will know his name. What happens to heroes when wars are over? In Harry’s case, they run away.**** What happens to villains when wars are over? Draco supposes that, in most cases, they die. That certainly seems to be the ministry’s objective. His father is dead, along with the majority of former death eaters sentenced to life in prison. Admittedly, death was perhaps preferable to the alternative of actually living in Azkaban. They’d given Draco his father’s ashes. A pitiable allowance, really. He wasn’t sure what to do with them. Lucius Malfoy should have been interred in the family crypt, but the marble mausoleum, its centuries of residents, and the estate they belonged to had all been seized by the ministry as reparations. So his father was left, without fanfare, a pound of dust in a wooden box that Draco handled with more quiescence than care. Draco can’t decide if his own punishment is worse. It was professed as a kindness—a mercy due to his youth: Five years without magic. But everyone in that courtroom knew it was equal to a death sentence. He was unlikely to survive one year, much less five. With his magic hobbled, his health and fortune gone, and a face as recognizable as his anathematized surname, Draco quickly finds himself thinking, not fondly, but certainly resignedly, of death. It would be easier. His mother, at least, is safe. And he is indebted to Potter for that. Thanks to Potter’s intercession at her trial, she avoided both prison time and magical impairment. She is a shadow of the woman she used to be, working for the first time in her life at a bookshop in Diagon alley. She lives in the tiny flat above it and is slowly selling the family jewelry collection, one agony at a time, to supplement her meager income. But she is alive. And people do not treat her too cruelly. Draco, though. The black snake on his arm is a testament to the ending he deserves. Six months after Lucius’ death, Draco visits his mother for the last time. He refuses to let her watch him die. He will not continue endangering her and his remaining friends with his presence. He is out of money, he cannot find a job, and the constant rattle in his lungs is getting hard to hide. So he brings his mother a flower at work and kisses her cheek and waves off her concern that he’s lost even more weight. Despite caution, someone catches him with a hex as he leaves the shop and he returns to Theo’s horrible muggle flat—where Draco has been sleeping on the couch—with bloody teeth and enough shame to last for the rest of his life. He packs his father with the meager remnants of his belongings and he walks to the international travel office. He stands in front of the permanent portkey map and chooses the cheapest, strangest, most rural, location. Somewhere that might as well have been called “Anonymity.” Somewhere without city streets or alleyways or preconceived notions. He picks somewhere no one will know his name. What happens to villains when wars are over? In Draco’s case, they run away.

#Harry Potter #Draco Malfoy #Harry Potter fic #drarry #maybe #I don't even know at this point #myfic

[youllallriseintheink]

Breaking the Time Loop chapter 10: Camaraderie

I can’t lie, chapters 10 and 11 are my least favourite of this story. But I hope you enjoy it anyhow. Also, I learned how to put those “Keep reading” things in!

---

Alice scampered into the ink machine chamber to find a slightly beaten-up fisher and striker and no one else. She drew her sword and slew the duo before they could land a single hit, as any reasonably armed, able-bodied person would have been able to do. God, Henry was stupid! But there was no time to dwell on that. She had to figure out whether Bendy had survived, and examine her options for if he hadn't. There was a large ink splatter on the ground in front of the machine. That could have just been from Henry, or it could have been the both of them. She examined the entry point of the machine-liquid ink was upon it- a good, if not definite, sign.

"Do you think that could be from you?" she asked Boris. Boris shrugged in response. "Alright. just let me sit down a moment. I have to think some things over."

Henry was okay. He'd said himself that he could come back from attacks from ink monsters. But without a demon, they'd have to make a new one or they wouldn't be able to save anyone. That meant sacrificing a soul and an ink creature. Whose body would they use? They could make a new ink creature, which would have a nine in ten chance of coming out malicious, then wrestle it into a glass tube and force a transformation on it, but that would be awfully risky. Otherwise, it would have to be one of them. Not her, obviously- she was too weak to ink. Tom wasn't much better, and Boris was cowardly. The harder question, though, was of who's soul to sacrifice. One of the lost ones? Sammy would never go for that, especially if the idea came from her. She'd have to do it in secret, and who knew-

"Where... is my lord?" came Sammy's voice, cutting into Alice's train of thought.

Alice sprung to her feet. "Sammy! I-".

"Where. Is my lord?!" he yelled. He was only a searcher now- not really dangerous. Alice had already drawn her machete due to blind instinct. Still, as the massive hoard of equally weak, half-formed ink creatures came to surround her, she hardly dared to breathe. Tom stepped between her and the horde, dragging Boris with him.

"Please, just let me explain," she begged. "Henry ran ahead of us. He was unarmed, so the butcher gang killed him. I don't know if he managed to get Bendy into the ink machine first. I'm sorry."

"Really? Because it seems to me that you killed them, angel!" He spat out the word 'angel' as though it were a slur.

"Stop! There's a simple solution here. Soon enough, Henry will come back. Then, he can tell you the truth. Alright? No need for anyone here to get hurt."

The horde backed away a bit. They agreed to wait, but many were still spoiling for a kill. In what was mere minutes, but felt to Alice like hours, Bendy tumbled out of the ink machine. Alice and Sammy were so grateful that they ran over and hugged him. "Bendy, thank goodness!" Alice beamed.

"Huh? What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry," Alice said, letting the rather overwhelmed imp down. "Henry got defeated. He'll be back soon, but we didn't know if you'd made it!" Alice turned to the horde. "You see, everyone? I'm innocent."

"Alright. You're innocent. I suppose we should get to work then?"

"Right. The last soul we need is Grant Cohen's. When's the last time you managed to separate him out?"

"I have never separated him out, I'm afraid."

"Why not?"

"Most likely he doesn't want to be. That is, if he's even here at all. Tell me, have you ever been to his office?"

"I don't... wait, you mean the one with the writing all over the walls? Yeesh."

"Yeah, Alice, you got your work cut out for you on that one," Bendy said.

"Mind if I tell you a bit of his story?" Sammy asked.

"Go ahead."

"Well, Grant Cohen was the accountant here long ago. And Joey... he disliked most of us. But what he had with Grant was a special hatred. We don't know exactly what happened, but one day, he just broke down. The janitor of this old studio... I can't remember his name, gathered us the day after, telling us that he'd written insane messages all over the walls of his office. Joey decided after that to make him one of the next ones we sacrificed. It only made sense- according to Joey he would have quit soon anyhow if he had so little faith in the company. I couldn’t do it, though. I came in while he was weeping over the budget, and he didn’t even notice I was there. He disappeared the next day. Everyone assumed the worst- kidnapping, suicide, murder, something like that. Why does Henry think he's here? Why do you trust that he knows?"

"Well, for one thing, he's been right so far. The other reason is hard to explain."

"I can actually back Alice up on this one. It's one of the things I saw through the cutouts. Grant had been really scared the morning after you decided not to kill him- hands shaking and everything- because he had to tell Joey about something called a bankruptcy. And when Joey heard about that, he got up in Grant's face and he told him he had three options: he could either figure out a way to avoid the bankruptcy, he could get fired and blacklisted from every place in New York, or he could come to a special meeting with him after work. Well, take a guess which he chose and what happened at that meeting." Bendy shook his head. "Not pretty. Screaming-searcher-in-a-cage-above-an-abyss not pretty."

"That's sad, but it still doesn't explain why he's never separated."

"It is not so uncommon, actually," Sammy said, "many of the people here choose nonexistence over existence. Scatter their soul so evenly that they aren't ever aware of themselves. That's why now is the best time for this. I doubt that a dominant soul is present in any of my sheep so soon after their revival. It's just a matter of taking one of them, isolating them, and playing some audio tapes. He will be drawn in, whether he likes it or not."

"Then that's what we'll do."

Sammy sent all but one of his searchers out of the room. Four of them had been petting Boris, so he went with them as well. The trio played the tapes of Grant Cohen, of which there were only two: one of him complaining about Joey's terrible business skills, and the other of him screaming and growling as he was sacrificed and transformed. The searcher showed little reaction to the first. With the second, though, the searcher began to look uncomfortable. That could have just been a reaction to the noise, but regardless, Sammy asked, "Do these tapes mean anything to you?" The searcher nodded. "Good. It's going to be okay, Grant. Look who we have here," Sammy motioned at Bendy. "He will set us free."

"Stop. Please," The searcher begged, "I don't want to be here. I don't want to remember what's happened. I don't even understand how I'm still alive. I slid out from between the bars of that cage and fell to my death. Is... this Hell?"

"This isn't Hell," Alice answered, "Look, it's really hard to explain. But just let us kill you and-"

"What!?" the ink creature whispered in alarm. Its instinct was suddenly to run. Alice out her rope and lassoed the Searcher. She drew him in close. In a panic, he grabbed her wrist, which immediately began to burn. She tore it away immediately to reveal that her left hand had nearly melted off. That was it. She took out her machete, and struck. It cut through the newly-formed searcher like butter. She dropped the machete and grabbed the soul, which she passed along to Bendy.

"Alice, what did you just do? That's not how the Church of Unity treats a lost sheep. I could have explained everything to him."

"Sorry, but I'm a miracle worker, not a therapist. I didn't survive this long by taking chances."

Sammy looked thoughtful a moment. "You know, I could kill you with a single touch, but you're one of the toughest people I've met down here. I need someone to look after my people once I'm gone. Alice, what if I chose you? With my endorsement, and that of our lord, they'd surely accept it."

"Sammy, that's really sudden. But, I was hoping that your church would open up to me at least a little. I'm not like you. I'm not good with giving people hope, or a reason to keep going, or any of that. But I could separate these souls out and send them to heaven. If we can't save them like you're being saved, well, it's what's best for them."

"So you agree?"

"If there's no one else to do it, then yes. I'll do it, Sammy."

"Thank you."

The two shared a firm handshake just as Henry dragged himself out of one of the puddles of ink. Alice helped Henry to his feet and then promptly slapped him across the face. Sammy followed suit.

"That's for running ahead of us without a weapon! Henry, what could've happened if the butcher gang had caught up with you a little sooner?"

"Alright, point taken. I guess I was just in a bit of a panic, is all. The important thing is that everyone made it out okay."

"Yeah. And uh, thanks. Fer savin' my life."

"Anytime, little guy." He turned back to Alice. "I didn't know that you and Sammy would be getting along. It's nice to see. Anyhow, who's soul is there left to save?"

Alice started giggling. "No one's, Henry. We're done. We just need to revive them now. Let's go to Boris' hideout so I can fix up these souls."

"Oh. Well, okay. Sammy, we're probably going to be playing cards. Do you like cards, or should I just, you know..."

"Actually, I think I'll be wanting his company, if he's alright with that."

"I certainly am."

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #breaking the time loop #my fanfiction #sammy lawrence #Allison Angel #Toon bendy

[thespacebetweenworlds]

idk if you’ll care about this but your thing about the whole “fiction is just fiction” and “fiction doesn’t affect reality” argument is actually not true at all because let’s just say for example: having lgbt, poc, disability rep in books or media isn’t all that important because it doesn’t affect reality.... when it does? it makes a HUGE impact on people. but yes I see where you’re coming from and as a person who hates incest with a passion, I don’t think u guys deserve these threats AT ALL.

Thank you for not thinking I should die a violent death. And thank you for this ask! I love being asked things. And to respond to your point, that fiction does affect reality, with the example of how representation is pretty awesome: that’s a freaking good point you have there, that I agree with - partially.

This Essay is titled: Fiction and Reality and How the everloving Fuck do they interact and what by nathan wesninski’s underpants does that have to do with fandom discourse?

So, beyond the read more you’ll have a compilation of my thoughts on it (that didn’t take several hours to write and edit). I’ll talk about:

1. Definition Of Fiction, Definition Of Reality

2. (How) Does Fiction Affect Reality?

3. Representation In Fiction

4. Who Judges Fanfic?

5. ”this content is problematic,” says you. ”please don’t mention power dynamics,” replies I

6. Censorship

7. A Brief History Of Why Fanfic Is Awesome

8. Links to stuff that might interest you

I’m just gonna. Quickly do that part in radioactive with the deep breath.

To start this, I want to clarify that in the response I made to transneiljosten’s post, I never explicitly said “fiction doesn’t affect reality” or “fiction is just fiction.”

What I did say is this: “Incest in fiction is just that: incest in fiction. It’s. not. real.” And: “I believe everyone should be allowed to write/create what they want - as long as it doesn’t hurt people in real life.”

But yes, the phrases “fiction is just fiction” and “fiction is not reality” have been used often when discussing freedom to write fanfic and when defending content another might call immoral. Not many people have elaborated beyond that, and to be fair - it’s a super big fucking field of study with so many subjective ways to look at it that it’s difficult to put into words.

But I’m gonna go and explain what people mean with those two phrases anyway.

Disclaimer: Remember how I called this a super big fucking field of study? I am no linguist and I have not studied literature. All my knowledge comes from years in fandom and internet research of the topics I personally found interesting. I may be wrong about things I say here, and I am always learning, so feel free to message me. I try my best to discuss controversial topics thoughtfully, respectfully, considerately and carefully, but I am only human and do not know everything. You are welcome to join the discussion.

1. Definition Of Fiction, Definition Of Reality

Going to https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ to properly look this up:

Reality: The state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.

Fiction: Literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that describes imaginary events and people.

So I say I don’t study literature (I really don’t) but just a few weeks ago I was in a lecture on the absolute basics of literature science, where I learned this dope sentence:

Die Wirklichkeit in der Kunst ist nur eine auf die außerkünstlerische Wirklichkeit verweisende Wirklichkeit.

Which is German, yes I know. Basically we have the starting point that literature is art, so it’s: "the reality in art is only a reality that refers to the reality outside of art" or, in other words, fiction is only ever fiction and not reality, no matter how close they may seem to be.

In summary, what we can say for sure: Fiction does not equal Reality. They are not the same. Fiction exists because Reality exists.

2. (How) Does Fiction Affect Reality?

Reality affects fiction. But does Fiction affect Reality?

Allow me to quote tumblr user shinelikethunder, who put it very nicely:

“Fiction affects people. And people affect reality.”

Tumblr user muchymozzarella made an important addition (and the blog is really pretty) so to read the post, klick on this link: https://muchymozzarella.tumblr.com/post/167137950299/fiction-is-not-responsible-for-reality

If you read the above post, further reading that might interest you are texts by Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer on Free Will. But that wouldn’t be fandom anymore, so like, find philosophy books in your local library and talk to you friends about it.

3. Representation In Fiction

But let’s come back to your question, dear anon: “... the whole “fiction is just fiction” and “fiction doesn’t affect reality” argument is actually not true at all because let’s just say for example: having lgbt, poc, disability rep in books or media isn’t all that important because it doesn’t affect reality.... when it does? it makes a HUGE impact on people.”

You have a great point. Representation in books matters. (If you rec me some nice wlw books I’ll love you forever, there are not enough.)

I am, however, gonna quote my friend of mine, who says it better than I ever could:

“There is a difference between media affecting behaviour and representation in media. Like, violent video games don't actually make you violent. Watching gay cinema isn't going to turn you to the lgbt side unless there was already a disposition there.

People read and write immorality constantly, and even when it's shone in a good light it's usually expected that we as human beings know right from wrong, know fiction from reality. Humanity has explored the happy shiny purity of the universe and the horrific grittiness since... Well probably forever, for a variety of reasons. And in recent years the way we consume media has intensified drastically. Our consumption is interactive, our interaction is globally influenced and sometimes that is good, but we've also given ourselves the right to witch-hunt without a lot of information, or because things don't go as you planned. Real people are always more important than fictional people.

Stand up for representation. Stand up for good representation. But if you're smart enough to understand morality in reality, that isn't going to suddenly go away if you read some incest fics... And hey if you do suddenly want to kiss your brother, that's something for you to deal with and it isn't fan fiction's fault.”

Representation in books matters. Why does it matter? Because the real world is so much more diverse than popular media might make you think. Fight against the patriarchy, not against random people on the internet.

4. Who Judges Fanfic?

Fanfic is written by fans. It’s also written for fans, but more than that, it’s written by fans. I’m not gonna say only teenage girls write fanfiction, because that’s not true. Fans write fanfiction. And everyone can be a fan.

Ozhawkauthor said:

“You are not paying for fanworks content, and you have no rights to it other than to choose to consume it, or not consume it. If you do choose to consume it, do not then attack the creator if it wasn’t to your taste. That’s the height of bad manners.

Be courteous in fandom. It makes the whole experience better for all of us.”

So why are “antis” suddenly here, declaring this ship and those characters off limits and to be hated on?

Specifically, what the fuck are fans that attack or judge other fans on?

To quote shinelikethunder (again): “Fiction needn’t be educational and fiction doesn’t always have clear-cut endorsements of who’s in the right. But the discussion that happens around fiction can include both.”

But to answer the question above: Who Judges Fanfic? Not. You.

5. ”this content is problematic,” says you. ”please don’t mention power dynamics,” replies I

Hypothetical situation:

I write a fanfic. My protagonist is Riko Moriyama, who is, in canon, a sadistic asshole that is so morally black that his own brother, Ichirou, who is also morally black, kills him in the end. It doesn’t matter what I write, or who I ship him with, in this hypothetical situation.

You appear, you read the fic or you don’t read the fic. You say: “This content is problematic.”

I quiver. I know you don’t like Riko Moriyama. I know you don’t approve of my shipping choice. “Please don’t mention power dynamics,” I reply.

“This relationship is toxic,” you say. “There are unhealthy power dynamics at play.”

And like, fuck, I know? I wrote it.

Obviously. Obviously I could reply with that ancient, age old phrase “Don’t Like Don’t Read.”

But I already made a similar post about that.

6. Censorship

I’m writing this post to fight against censorship in fandom. (The day I am typing this up on was the day I went to a demonstration against articles 11 and 17, earlier 13, in the copyright reform in the EU, and to protest for a free internet.)

Censorship.

What does that even mean? The Oxford English Dictionary says:

Censorship: The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Here’s the wikipedia article.

In my opinion, every person, regardless of whether or not they call themselves “anti” who tells someone else that their fanfic is disgusting and wrong and should be deleted, based on subjective ideas of moral, is trying to enforce censorship. So don’t. Don’t do that.

“But,” you might say. “Riko is not a good person.”

And you know what? You’re absolutely right. He’s not. Neither is any of the Foxes.

And this is why none of the antis make sense. In one post, they condemn Roland - a perfectly normal minor character, and in the next post they call Andrew Minyard their soft angel child. Y’all. Not to hate on Andrew Minyard, but he literally drugged Neil? Even though he’s so big on consent, he drugged Neil?

So by saying this and that are problematic and should not be written and the people who do write it should be blocked, you’re kinda hypocritical. Because the All For The Game trilogy is one fucked up piece of media by itself.

And have you ever read a book?

Most books have characters that aren’t completely morally white or morally black, events that aren’t always sunshine, butterflies and rainbows.

And you know what else? That’s a good thing. Because the world isn’t like that either. And more often than not literature addresses topics critically.

Remember The Hunger Games? Exactly.

7. A Brief History Of Why Fanfic Is Awesome

In the beginnings of fanfic and fandom as we know it, slash was illegal in the USA. Fanfiction.net was made in like 1998, and during the first few years when fanfic got more attention with the rise of the internet, restrictions were made.

Much like tumblr in december 2018, except worse, fanfiction.net purged explicit content. Livejournal, the journaling platform where lots of fandom stuff happened before tumblr, is known for strikethrough, a big, unannounced deletion of fannish content. Because of those purges and restrictions, ao3 was originally made. I’m not trying to paint ao3 as the heroes that saved fandom, well I kinda am, and they are doing great things so that fanfiction can exist and remain accessible.

I think fiction is not just fiction. But fiction is just fiction in the sense that it doesn’t have any direct influence on the real world. We are all allowed to write whatever we want.

Disclaimer: We are all allowed to write whatever we want, except when we call for violence towards others in real life. Further disclaimer: Calling for violence towards others is illegal. Hate speech is illegal. Violent threats are illegal. Promotion of self-harm is illegal. Death threats are illegal.

To come back to fandom: Shipping or not shipping something has nothing to do with morals. Hating on people who ship “unhealthy power dynamics/problematic ships” does not give you the moral high ground. It makes you an asshole. For the love of Riko’s stinky socks, use the blocking feature.

My friend iknowwhoyouaredamianos said: “Hating people irl, lashing out against them, that's the real cruelty. That's so much worse than writing about something fictional.”

If you hate on real people, there is no trigger warning. You can’t don’t-like-don’t-read hate. It will affect that person’s life negatively, whether you intend to do so or not. Don’t be assholes, dears.

Thank you to my friend, and to iknowwhoyouaredamianos for letting me quote you and joining the discussion; and to foxsoulcourt for so many reasons.

Who knew that writing over 2000 words on fandom would be fun?

Dear anon, I hope I answered your question.

I’m gonna conclude this post with the Three Laws of Fandom:

I. Don’t Like; Don’t Read.

II. Your Kink Is Not My Kink.

III. Ship And Let Ship.

8. Links To Stuff That Might Be Of Interest

If you read all of the above and still feel like you don’t understand, have this awesome post by destinationtoast: How to not like fictional things (and not be a dick about it)

Podcasts on fandom culture by fansplaining:

Episode 84: Purity Culture

Episode 85: Age and Fandom

Episode 86: The Money Question

Episode 87: What we discourse about when we discourse about the discourse

Fandom positivity posts I reblogged (because y’all need it):

short post on staying positive in fandom

when discourse gets too stressful

important advice especially for those of you younger than 15 (but also older)

Tumblr user freedom-of-fanfic is writing lots of essays on lots of fandom things, here are some those more or less directly relate to this:

On criticising: Free to write whatever, free to criticise whatever?

A post on Fiction & Reality that answers a question very similar to the one I answered,

and Why fanworks are such a convenient social scrapegoat (kinda a socioeconomical discussion of USA-centric fandom)

There is also a very extensive FAQ by freedom-of-fanfic, with lots of very important writings on fandom culture on tumblr.

Unrelated, but if you’re interested in more of fandom, fanfic, and statistics of both:

http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/stats

Interesting stuff on Fanlore: Purity Culture in Fandom, AO3 & Censorship, The Advantages of Fan Fiction as an Art Form.

An article on the free speech debate in fandom

Dreamwidth’s Diversity Statement, and Ao3’s Diversity Statement

A cool (and unrelated) thing: Femslash can save the world if we let it

Happy reading, and I hope you learned something.

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

The Black Swan

Chapter 6

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word count: 5246

Chapter: 6/17 (All chapters)

Summary: Simon is angry at David, and Baz gives him advice.

Read on AO3

AN: This was one of my fave chapters to write. It's really fluffy and cute. And there's art by @bookerella. Enjoy!

———————————————

“It’s just so fucking insane!” Simon shouted. “It’s stupid, and annoying, and-and stupid!”

“You already said that,” Penny sighed as she arranged the copper pots. The hustle and bustle of the market drowned out Simon’s volume. Everyone was busy preparing for the solstice festival to notice his rantings and ravings. He sat behind her stall, legs crossed, pouting like the child he surely felt like right now.

“I can’t believe he’s doing this Pen,” he muttered. “He’s going to make me marry one of my best friends. Why does it have to be her? Why can’t I ‘continue the dynasty’ with just anyone?!”

Penny sighed. She turned around, elbows on her counter. “Simon, you’re smart, you know exactly why.”

Simon scowled, curling in himself even more. “Yeah, yeah I know. No matter what title Davy gives me or how he tells the nobles to act, I’m still...lower in their eyes. Agatha’s family is all old and well respected and stuff.”

“And marrying her will legitimize you and your future heirs in their eyes.”

Simon’s heart sank. He knew it made sense, but It hurt to know that a bunch of snooty people would always look down on him, and there was nothing he could do about it. “What makes me any better or worse than them?” he grumbled. “How is my blood any different than theirs?”

Penny raised one hand to the sky. “Hey, amen to that. I completely agree. But I don’t need to curry favour with the nobles. David does.”

He twisted the headscarf between his shaky fingers. It kept him from punching something. “B-But I thought David wanted to work against the traditions! He was a lord, sure, but he was low level and never liked the court. He says he wants to change shit. Yet he’s making me marry Aggie to ‘curry favour’ with the old nobles? So, what the fuck?!”

Penny sighed. “Because, no matter how much Davy talks about changing stuff, the old nobles still have a lot of influence. He has to deal with them if he wants to do anything significant. And the only way to get what you want is to schmooze or to threaten. David usually chooses the latter, honestly, but occasionally he has to try the former or they’ll revolt. So, he’s getting you to marry Agatha so he can push his new laws.”

“That doesn’t make it right!”

“Of course it doesn’t, Si!” she shouted, one hand on her hip. “It’s craven, cynical, and horrible for you. I’m not saying that’s an excuse, just a reason. Royal politics are bullshit and I wish I could change them for you.”

Simon’s face morphed into lopsided smile. He reached up towards his friend, hand open and offered. “I know, Pen. Thanks.”

Penny smiled too. She took his hand, squeezing it tightly. Then quickly pulled him to his feet, making Simon nearly fall over. “Now, I didn’t endorse you sneaking out of the castle so you could just complain. You’re going to help me sell some damn cookware, mister.”

“Oh? Think a prince hawking for you will get your sales higher?” Simon waggled his eyebrows for extra sarcastic emphasis. Penny rolled her eyes.

“You’re not as easily recognizable as you think, Si. Especially with that ridiculous thing on your head. But your voice is quite loud when it needs to be. So get shouting!”

She shoved him out into the bustling market crowd. He bumped into an old man, who glared and grumbled at him. Simon called out an apology, but he didn’t care. He just went about his day. Maybe his face really wasn’t as well known as he thought. That was a small stab to his ego, but at the same time he didn’t mind. He didn’t like being prince. Truly, he wanted to be a hero, strong and well known in his own right. But at the moment, he was more than happy to be a cookware salesman.

“Oi!” He shouted, holding up two pots towards the sky. “Get your premium kitchenware here! High grade copper, lovely finish, easy to clean by hand or by magic! Get it right here! Hey, how about you, mate? Want a pot? C’mon you know you do!”

He flaunted his loud and forceful sales technique with ease. Simon turned his head slightly. Just behind him, Penelope was trying to contain her snickers, a hand over her mouth. Hero, prince, no matter what he was, he’d always want to make Penelope laugh. That sound made him forget his troubles.

At least for now.

———————————————

Simon knew he was being particularly aggressive in the dueling tonight. His anger and frustration, brewing for the past few days, were definitely bleeding through, making his attacks stronger and more forceful. Baz kept up of course though. He was equally strong, if not more so, and had been learning well. He parried Simon’s strong jab, then another, then another. But when Simon went for a overhead downward slash, Baz just barely blocked it. He used two hands to push his stick against Simon’s.

“What’s got you so inflamed tonight?” Baz teased, smirking from beneath raven strands.

“Shut up,” Simon said, shifting even more his weight forward, pressing harder on Baz’s stick.

“Oo, very eloquent.”

He looked up at Simon through long lashes, a little glint in his deep sea grey. Simon’s pulse instantly picked up. It was infuriating. Baz could be so smug sometimes. He didn’t want Baz to be calm and smug when he was so furious. He pushed harder, but Baz just leaned back, taking the weight. Simon growled. He wanted to win, needed to win. Why wouldn’t he fall? Why couldn’t be just-

Baz stepped to the side.

“Gah!” Simon yelled as he fell over, face crashing into the grass. Baz chuckled from behind him. He whipped around, his eyes narrowed at Baz’s stupid smug smirk.

“My point,” Baz drawled. “I’m finally catching up, I think.”

Simon growled. He swiped his leg around, catching both of Baz’s ankles. The other boy yelped and fell right on his arse. Simon sprung up, one foot on Baz’s chest and stick pointing downwards. He breathed harshly, glaring at Baz.

"My point,” he said.

Baz rolled his eyes. “Yes yes, you’re very strong and macho. Now help me up like a good sport.” Baz offered his hand, and Simon violently pulled him up. He nearly fell over with the force, and glared at Simon. “Good Gods,” he grumbled, “aggressive much?”

Simon grunted, dropping Baz’s hand and stomped towards the lake. He tossed his stick to the side and sat down with his knees pulled up, face buried deep in his linen trousers. He watched as Baz strolled over. His long arms were crossed over his chest, grey eyes slits of annoyed contempt.

“What’s gotten you in such a mood tonight?” Simon shrugged. Baz scoffed. “Have you ever noticed that half your sentences are shrugs?”

Simon glared. “Fuck off,” he growled.

Baz snorted, hands falling to his hips. “You really are in a snit.” He sat down next to Simon with his legs crossed, posture perfect of course. “What’s wrong?”

Simon picked at the grass. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously something if you’re this upset. I’d prefer you just tell me and stop being a passive aggressive arsehole so I don’t have to suffer.”

He threw more grass, some falling and some flitting away on the breeze. Simon could easily refuse. Telling Baz would risk exposing that he was a prince, something he never wanted to be with him. But...Baz was his friend, right? He deserved to know. At least, the parts he was willing to tell.

“It’s my guardian,” Simon muttered. “My adoptive father. He’s, making me do something I don’t want to. It’s not harmful though! It’s just...something that would help him but make me unhappy. And I get why he has to. But I still don’t like it.” He pulled even further into himself. “It, it makes me feel worthless. Like I’m not good enough on my own. I have to be of use to him somehow. It’s...horrible.”

Simon’s eyes flicked up to Baz again. Baz had his usual blank, bored look, except his eyes were a bit curious. Maybe just on this side of intrigued. His head tilted to the side. Black hair fell in front of his face in a lazy wave.

“So,” he said, “your father is forcing you to marry someone you don’t want to.”

Simon’s spine went ramrod straight. His heart was beating far too fast. Fuck, he was exposed, he knew, he’d figured out Simon was a prince. “H-How did you know?”

Baz smirked. Which made the prince’s mouth go dry for some reason. “Give me some credit, Simon, it wasn’t that hard. You said your father was forcing you to do something that made you unhappy but wasn’t exactly harmful. You described him as using you for his own advantage, like a bargaining chip. I’ve read books on social customs. Arranged marriages are used to fortify agreements between two parties. So I’m guessing your adoptive father is using your hand to seal some deal he’s made?”

Simon’s jaw was on the forest floor. “Y-Yeah, that’s exactly it. You’re...really smart, wow.”

Baz’s smirk got even bigger. But Simon could also swear there was a touch of an embarrassed flush on his cheeks. It was so slight that he couldn’t know for sure though. Baz tucked a piece of raven hair behind his ear and looked to the water. “So what does your guardian want so badly that he has to give you over for it?”

That made Simon gulp. This was his chance, to finally reveal what he truly was. But the thought of telling Baz sent his stomach into horrificaly tight knots. He thought of Agatha bowing, of Miss Possibelf and Cook Pritchard’s caution. He didn’t want Baz to look at him different, to suddenly see him as the royalty he never asked to be. If that made him a coward and a bastard, so be it.

“Status,” he blurted out. “My guardian, he wants more status. He’s very ambitious, wants to be powerful, make a difference and all. The girl he wants me to marry, people like her. They’ll, give him stuff if I marry her. And he’s giving her family money, I think.”

“Hm, I see,” Baz said thoughtfully. “There’s a word for that right? ‘Social climber’, I think.”

“Yeah, that’s it.” It was strangely accurate. Even though he used to be a lord and was now a king, David was a social climber, always looking for more power and influence. He wanted power to push his reforms. Nothing would stop him, it seemed.

“Is that why you went to Mage’s School? Because it looked good to have a son who went to somewhere fancy?”

Simon chuckled. “Yeah, I think it was something like that.” It was easier to say that than mention the old Pitch law that said all royal heirs had to go to Mage’s School.

Baz relaxed a bit, leaning back on one arm. “Well, at least you got a proper education out of your father being a complete prick.”

Simon shrugged, still fiddling with pieces of grass. “I don’t know. He’s alright sometimes.”

“Don’t do that,” Baz snapped, frowning at Simon. The other boy tilted his head in confusion.

“Don’t do what?”

“Don’t make excuses for him. He’s treating you like a bargaining chip for his own ambitions. He’s a prick, full stop, end of sentence.”

Simon’s mouth pulled into his own frown, but more confused than angry. “I-It’s not that simple. He can be okay. He’s really not all bad. And no matter what, he still took me in when no one else would.” That was a very short, simple summary of a much longer story. Simon would tell Baz about that. One day, maybe...

Baz shook his head, dislodging his hair so it fell in his perturbed pretty face. “Just because he took you in doesn’t mean you owe him for the rest of your life. You never asked for him. He chose to take care of you. That should be his privilege, not your debt.”

Simon could feel some gears turning in his brain. He wasn’t as slow as most people assumed. He could put things together, he just needed a bit more time. His head lolled to the side. “You speak from experience,” he said matter of factly.

That made Baz’s posture go straight again, but only for a second. He curled in on himself, fiddling with his trouser, mouth a tense thin line. He didn’t respond. Cautiously, he shuffled closer, his knees nearly touching Baz’s.

“Did someone tell you to be grateful to him? The cloaked guy?” Simon asked quietly.

Baz’s eyes flicked up. His deep sea grey was intimidating this close up. “Are we starting the questions for tonight?”

Simon shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“So I don’t have to answer if I don’t want to?”

“Y-Yeah, of course.” Simon prepared to be struck down at best, and getting an earful at worst. But Baz didn’t do either. Instead, he sighed, and nodded his head slowly.

“Yes,” he whispered, “Vera, the woman who took care of me when I was young. When I got mad at the cloaked man, she always told me, ‘he brings us food and keeps us clothed, don’t be angry with him.’ She was right, he did care for us in a way. But he would never let us leave either. I was supposed to be grateful because he kept our prison comfy?” He scowled incredibly hard. “Ridiculous. I always hated him, and it turned out my hatred was justified. Considering that when I tried to escape he did...this to me.”

Baz gestured noncommittally to himself and the lake. Simon’s breath hitched. “H-he cursed you for trying to escape?”

The boy nodded again. “Yes. I scaled the wall while Vera slept. I was almost at the top when he showed up and dragged me back down. He called me ungrateful, told me that if I was so desperate to be on my own, I wouldn’t mind if Vera went away. And that I needed to learn my lesson.” He looked out towards his lake, where white birds slept. “He said, ‘if you love those damn birds so much, Basil, surely you wouldn’t mind being one.’” He scoffed and clenched his fist. “Dramatic fucker.”

Simon was at a loss for words. Well, more of a loss than usual. This was the most Baz had ever explained about his curse. It felt exhilarating, to know more, but also scary. This felt like a lot. Baz was trusting him with a lot. Simon’s heart was beating quite hard right now.

“That’s horrible,” Simon whispered. “I-I don’t know what else to say. I’m not good at deep stuff. That just...sucks.”

Strangely, Baz let out a breathy chuckle. A very small smile pulled at his mouth. There was even a little sparkle in his eye. That was the last thing Simon had expected. “You’re right, in a very ineloquent way. It really does suck. This whole thing certainly, sucks.” He flicked his gaze to the side, looking right at Simon. “Your father, what he’s doing, that...sucks too.”

Simon’s first instinct was to argue, like it always had been. But he thought of the yelling, the sadness, everything damn thing David made Simon do for his own benefit.

He was starting to understand Baz’s point.

“I guess it does,” he chuckled. “Not much I can do.”

Baz shrugged. “You could run away.”

Simon chuckled more, then gave Baz a withering look. “Yeah, he won’t let me go that easily.” Baz quirked an eyebrow. Simon sighed and fell back. The stars were beautiful tonight. They almost made him forget his angst. “He’ll chase me down, scour the land, no stone left unturned.”

“Wow, he sounds...determined.”

Simon scoffed. “You have no idea, mate.” He reached up to the sky, desperate to hold onto something so incredible yet so far away. “Besides, I don’t know anyone outside of Watford Town. If I ran, I’d have nowhere to go. Maybe my friends would go with me, but I don’t want to do that to them. They don't deserve a life of running.”

Baz chuckled. “Well aren’t you noble.”

“That’s what everyone says. Friend says I’d make a perfect knight.

“Yeah, I can definitely see that.”

Baz fell back as well, hands linked over his stomach, dark hair spread out like a halo against the grass. They were silent for awhile. Just two young hopeless men gazing at the night sky. Simon was sure there was a ballad like this. And if there wasn’t, there needed to be one.

“You know,” Baz said quietly, “I’ve been charting the stars for years. Used my books to find out constellations.”

Simon lifted his head slightly. “Really?”

Baz nodded. “M-hm. Look.” He shifted closer and raised his hand, long finger pointing to the sky. “That right there, that’s the fox.”

He traced a vague fox like shape between the stars. Simon wasn’t really listening though. He was more focused on how close Baz was. His bony shoulder, his soft hair, his long leg. His entire body’s proximity made Simon’s breath feel scarce. But he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. He’d never felt anything like this before.

“Uh-huh,” Simon said, only a slight catch in his voice.

“Over there,” Baz moved his hand, “that’s the swan, with its wings spread out.”

“Appropriate.”

Baz kicked his ankle, but not with enough force to hurt. “And that,” Baz moved his hand up, “is the great dragon-”

“Who once tried to burn Watford down but was defeated by a great hero?”

“Yes. You know the story?”

Simon nodded. “I know a lot of the old stories. Sometimes the matron would read them to us at the orphanage. I told you, I like fairy tales.”

“Right, of course. Vera would read me those stories too, for bedtime. But I like philosophy and politics books better now.”

Something in Simon seized. Pieces were falling together in his mind. He wasn’t sure if they all fit, but he wanted to find out.

“Baz,” he said, slowly and quietly, “how...how old were you? When you first started living here?”

Baz froze. His arm was still pointing straight up at the star. But bit by bit, it fell, landing very close to Simon’s arm. That unknown feeling threatened to swallow Simon’s entire chest.

“I don’t know,” Baz whispered. “Young enough I don’t remember much from before I was here. I think...” he bit at his lip in contemplation, “I think I might have been five? Or six? I remember Vera giving me a large mint pie with a six carved on the top. So that was probably my sixth birthday.”

“Yeah, yeah, probably.” Simon nodded, because he couldn’t think of anything else to do. “You really have been here a long time.”

Baz chuckled low in his throat. He turned his head towards Simon, and Simon did the same. A half smile pulled at Baz’s thin lips, an expression so terrifyingly suited to him. But his eyes were- well, they weren’t sad exactly. It was subtler than that. It was the kind of sorrow that no longer burned and ate you from the inside out, but merely ached. A sadness bred in isolation and accepted ages ago. Forlorn, maybe.

Baz looked very forlorn.

“I know,” he whispered.

Simon moved his hand, just brushing it against Baz’s. Baz jolted slightly, but didn’t move away. “But...not for much longer, okay? I’ll fix it. I promise.”

Baz’s mouth tensed for a moment. But he looked Simon in the eye, nodded, then looked back to the sky.

And that was all there was to say.

They were quite for a long time again. Baz gazed at the stars. So did Simon. He traced the dragon constellation with his eyes. He found the few others he knew. The chimera, the swordsman, the great castle, the first fire, all immortalized in the cosmos. Simon sometimes imagined he was up there. Remembered not as the commoner king or David’s heir, but Simon Snow, memorable by his own name alone. Someone who deserved to be up there because he did something good himself. It was a stupid fantasy. But still, it always sat in the back of Simon’s mind.

“Um,” Simon whispered. “I, uh, brought more books for us to look at.”

Baz shifted, finally breaking his stillness. “I see. Think something useful will be in them?”

“Yeah. They’re about potions and plants and stuff. Special herbs can reverse curses, apparently.”

“Hm, interesting.” Baz threw himself up to sitting, then went to his feet. “Let’s get started. Lots of text to read.”

He walked off to where Simon left his rucksack. Simon got up to follow, hands in his pockets. His stomach ached a bit. He wasn’t great at picking up social cues, but even Simon knew that had probably been some sort of moment, and he’d broken it.

Baz took out a large textbook and handed the other to Simon. He traced a long finger over the lettering.

“‘Herbal Remedies to Magical Maladies,” he read out. “Huh. Sounds interesting.”

Simon chuckled. “Really?”

Baz sat down cross legged, opening the volume on his lap. “It’s not what I usually read, sure, but I like any new knowledge.”

“You talk like a scholar sometimes.” Simon sat opposite him and flipped to the first page.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s not. It’s just...I don’t get it, wanting to read books all the time. I like some books sure, but not any book. Or reading something just to learn.

Baz flicked his eyes up for a moment. “When you don’t get out in the world much except as a bird, books are really the only way to be educated.”

Simon felt like he’d been smacked in the face. There’d be a large red mark on his cheek if the hit hadn’t been verbal. He coughed awkwardly. “R-right, that makes sense. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. Let’s just get this started.”

They began their reading. Simon’s book was on ancient potions. And that made for a very boring experience. There were pictures, sure, but they were diagrams with lots of numbers and charts. Simon tried to read it, he really did. But it was so dull, and he was so tired. The nightmares had only let him sleep an hour last night. And David had forced him into an entire afternoon of sword training. All the exhaustion hit him like a horse carriage going at full speed. His eyelids felt so heavy. His muscles and mind begged for rest. Gods, he was just so bloody tired.

“Simon? You alright?”

Simon’s head snapped up, blinking rapidly. “I’m awake!”

Baz raised a suspicious brow. “Well, you may be now, but you certainly weren’t a moment ago. Are you tired?”

“No,” Simon said as he stifled a yawn. Baz smirked, obviously very amused at Simon’s stubbornness. Simon found it annoying. “Fuck off, I’m fine. Just keep reading.”

“Okay, I’ll keep reading, but you should get some sleep. Coming out here almost every night is obviously taxing you.”

“I’m fine.”

“No,” Baz snapped the book closed, “you’re not.” He went to his feet and stretched out his arm. “C’mon, get up.”

Simon’s face scrunched up in confusion. Baz sighed and rolled his eyes. With lightning speed, he bent down and grabbed Simon’s wrist.

“Hey!” Simon tried to break from Baz’s grip, but the man was strong. Damn the swan boy and his strong flying arms. He easily hauled Simon to his feet, then dragged him towards the tiny cottage. Simon struggled but it was no use. Baz opened the door and brought the other boy inside.

“Now,” Baz said firmly, and pointed at the cot. “Sleep.”

Simon crossed his arms. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes! Stop being a child, Simon, you need sleep to function.”

Simon scowled at him. “I’m fine! I’ve been like this for weeks and I’m fine! And-And I just-” He groaned and dragged a hand over his face. His angry posture deflated. He was too tired to be angry now. “Baz...” he whispered, “we, we don’t get a lot of time. I can just sleep later.”

Baz didn’t respond. Simon cautiously moved his hand away, and saw Baz looking at him strangely. He was obviously curious, but confused too. And maybe just a little bit frightened. Simon didn’t know what he had to be scared of.

He took a step forward, unequivocally walking into Simon’s space, and slipped his fingers under Simon’s. Baz’s calluses scratched along his skin in that strangely pleasant way that made his nerves spark.

“Go to sleep, Simon,” he said softly. “I’ll still be here tomorrow night.”

Simon opened his mouth to argue. But the look on Baz’s face, that kind and sympathetic look, gave him pause. Baz was right. He’d still be here tomorrow. And maybe Simon could use a bit more sleep.

“Okay,” he sighed.

Baz’s lip quirked up. “Good. Get some rest. You can find your way out in the morning?”

“Yeah, will do.” Simon let out a yawn as he stumbled towards the cot. It looked completely unused, the old wool blanket neatly lain on top. Simon collapsed on it, and could instantly feel slumber take hold of his body.

“Night, Baz,” he mumbled

“Goodnight, Simon,” Baz said. “Rest well.”

Simon lazily raised his hand in acknowledgement. Distantly, he heard Baz’s footsteps fade away and the door shut. He fell asleep almost instantly.

———————————————

He was walking down a hallway lined with fancy portraits and intricate Simon knew this hallway well. The boy was strolling down in it again, just like he had done so many times in these dreams. But when he looked up at the long red banners, they looked a bit more clear. The dream fog had dissipated slightly. Simon could make out something drawn in black, with wavy tendrils reaching upwards. He tried to focus, tried to make it out, but that was when it happened, right on time. In an instant, the world exploded into flames.

But the dream didn’t end.

Simon, even in the vague awareness of his dreams, knew they usually ended here. He was supposed to wake up with a start. But it kept going. The boy coughed and pushed himself up on his shaky arms. Rubble slid off his back. He looked down at his tiny hands. They were covered in black and grey ash. Simon felt the tears fall down his chubby cheeks, both from the fire’s heat and childish confusion.

The scene suddenly happened in pieces, jumpy snippets of what he’d already seen. Running, calling for Mum, Mum standing there with the man’s arm around her neck, being told to run, rushing through the flames, and the man grabbing his neck.

But things didn’t go black this time either.

Suddenly, the boy and Simon were outside. Simon could tell. He couldn’t feel the smoke clog his lungs. The boy was slung over a man’s shoulder. His hands were bound with rope, which didn’t budge no matter how much he struggled. A big burlap sack on the man’s other shoulder bumped the boy over and over. His tear and smoke blurry eyes lifted up. A large building burned in the near distance. It was made of dark stone but the flames engulfed so much of it it was hard to see. There was a loud crack, and part of the roof caved in. The boy started to scream.

“Where’s my Mum?!” he howled. “You hafta save my Mum!”

“I don’t have to do anything, you snivelling urchin,” the main growled. His voice was almost familiar, but Simon couldn’t quite place it through the haze of the dream.

“Mummy!” he yelled. Though only heard distantly, like most things in the dreams, the sound of his voice broke Simon’s heart.

“Shut up!”

Something smooth tapped the boy’s temple. A wave of exhaustion hit his body. Every muscle and bone went limp. He was still crying as he passed out again.

———————————————

Simon bolted upright. His chest felt constricted and hot. His hands were glowing deep, rich gold with power. Even his eyes stung like they’d been in smoke. Or maybe... Simon put a hand to his cheek, and his fingers came back wet. Crying. His eye stung from crying. Tears from the little boy, begging and pleading for his mummy.

It took Simon a few moments to recollect himself, to calm his magic and remember where he was. Not his grand palace room, or even his dirty orphanage bunk, but a tiny cot in a tiny wooden cottage. Baz’s room. He looked down to see the blanket pulled over his legs. Weird. He was pretty sure he fell asleep on top of it.

Early morning light was bleeding in from the one window. Crap, Simon had to get back to the palace before David noticed. He scrambled out from the bed, laying down the blanket as nicely as he could. As he exited, he nearly tripped over something.

“What the...” he whispered. At his feet were toppled books and a now messy pile of clothes. Baz’s clothes, sitting there, just like the first time Simon fell into the lake. Simon looked up towards the lake. He inhaled sharply. Sitting there in the centre of the water, along with all the white birds, was a single black swan wearing a thin silver chain.

It- the bird- Baz was curled in on himself, long neck twisted around, head hidden just above a raven coloured wing. He was obviously sleeping. That made sense. He slept during the day as a swan so he could spend as much time as a human at night. Simon found it strange to see him like this. Of course he knew Baz spent half his days as a bird, but he hadn’t seen him so since that first night. And seeing was far different than talking about it.

At least he looks peaceful, Simon thought, because he did. Baz’s eyes were closed. His whole body slowly expanded and rested with each breath. Simon was tempted to go over and touch him. Maybe see if his feathers were as soft was his hair. But, he had a feeling Baz wouldn’t like that. He barely handled talking about being a swan, he’d probably hate Simon seeing him as one. So Simon left him to sleep.

He put Baz’s clothes back in a neat pile, and left the books there too. His rucksack was conveniently placed there too. As he slung it over his shoulders, Simon realised he’d picked it up upside down. Luckily only his dagger and sketch book set fell out. He quickly put his dagger away, but lingered on the book. An idea crossed his mind, which wasn’t always a good thing when it came to Simon. But this one didn’t seem that bad.

Simon scribbled on the page, then ripped it out and laid it on the clothes. This was stupid. Baz probably wouldn’t see it for ages. Maybe not even until he turned human again. But Simon wanted to do it anyway. He looked at it one more time before he turned around.

Thanks for the bed. I’ll see you tonight, Baz. Simon

———————————————

AN: This chapter was fun because of all the pining and the growing affection imo. I like writing that build up. My main worry is that it's boring, but I hope you guys liked it. Next chapter will be next Monday, and prepare yourselves, there is angst incoming. See you next time :)

#carry on #snowbaz #simon snow #baz pitch #penelope bunce #fluff #angst #fantasy au #The Black Swan #mysnowbazfic

[statetalks]

Who’s Right Democrats Or Republicans

Views Of The Democratic And Republican Parties

Just under half of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic Party, while a slightly larger share have an unfavorable view.

The GOP is viewed more negatively 38% say they have a positive view of the Republican Party, while 60% rate it unfavorably. These views are modestly changed since last summer, with the share of Americans rating the GOP unfavorably slightly higher than it was in August and the share of Americans with a negative view of the Democratic Party down slightly .

About three-quarters of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents view the GOP favorably, while 81% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents view the Democratic Party positively.

Nearly all Republicans who say they strongly identify with the Republican Party express a favorable opinion of the GOP. Among Republicans who say they not so strongly identify with the party, 77% say have a favorable view, while 56% of independents who lean toward the Republican Party say the same.

Democrats who very strongly identify with the Democratic Party nearly universally view their party favorably, as do 87% of Democrats who describe themselves as not-so-strong Democrats. About six-in-ten Democratic leaners have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party.

Within both partisan groups, views of the opposing party are overwhelmingly unfavorable across-the-board, with more than eight-in-ten strong partisans, not so strong partisans and leaners alike saying this.

Why Are An Elephant And A Donkey The Party Symbols

The Democratic party is often associated with the colour blue and the donkey mascot.

That dates back to Democratic candidate Andrew Jackson’s 1828 presidential campaign, when opponents called him a “jackass” for his stubbornness.

Instead of taking the nickname as an insult, Jackson embraced it and used the donkey image on his election posters.

It was then quickly adopted by newspapers and political cartoonists.

The Republican’s elephant symbol came along years later.

Many believe it came about, in part, due to a widely used expression during the Civil War led by Republican president Abraham Lincoln.

Soldiers entering battle were said to be “seeing the elephant” a phrase that means learning a hard lesson, often with a profound cost.

The symbol was then popularised by political cartoonist Thomas Nast; an early rendition featured in the 1879 edition of Harper’s Weekly.

Both symbols are still largely used for political campaigns.

Democrats Tend To Have A Lot More Anger And Negativity In Their Rhetoric According To Them If You Support President Trump Well Then You Are A Racist And A Nazi

They generally seem to be out to get someone making things more personal.  Why are they so afraid to use the facts to reinforce what they want to do? Its agenda first then find or make up facts to support the rhetoric.

If they cant beat you at the polling booth, they try and beat you in court and thats just a great example of something thats not a pleasant experience. And not quite working in the long run. They keep getting overturned.

Crime And Capital Punishment

Republicans generally believe in harsher penalties when someone has committed a crime, including for selling illegal drugs. They also generally favor capital punishment and back a system with many layers to ensure the proper punishment has been meted out. Democrats are more progressive in their views, believing that crimes do not involve violence, such as selling drugs, should have lighter penalties and rehabilitation. They are also against capital punishment in any form.

Conservative Endorsements Of Democratic Candidates

During the 2004 election, several high-profile conservative writers endorsed the Presidential campaign of John Kerry, arguing that the Bush administration was pursuing policies which were anything but conservative. Among the most notable of these endorsements came from Andrew Sullivan and Paul Craig Roberts, while a series of editorials in Pat Buchanan‘s The American Conservative magazine made a conservative case for several candidates, with Scott McConnell formally endorsing Kerry, and Justin Raimondo giving the nod to Ralph Nader.

In South Carolina in , the Democratic candidate for United States Senator was Bob Conley, a traditional Catholic, and a former activist for the presidential candidacy of Ron Paul. Conley failed in his bid to defeat Lindsey Graham, receiving 42.4 percent of the vote.

In his campaign for reelection, Walter Minnick, U.S. Representative for Idaho’s 1st congressional district, was endorsed by Tea Party Express, an extremely rare occurrence for a Democrat. Minnick was the only Democrat to receive a 100% rating from the Club for Growth, an organization that typically supports conservative Republicans. Minnick lost to Raúl Labrador, a conservative Republican, in the general election.

Think Republicans Are Disconnected From Reality It’s Even Worse Among Liberals

Arlie Hochschild

A new survey found Democrats live with less political diversity despite being more tolerant of it with startling results

In a surprising new national survey, members of each major American political party were what they imagined to be the beliefs held by members of the other. The survey asked Democrats: How many Republicans believe that racism is still a problem in America today? Democrats guessed 50%. Its actually 79%. The survey asked Republicans how many Democrats believe most police are bad people. Republicans estimated half; its really 15%.

The survey, published by the thinktank More in Common as part of its Hidden Tribes of America project, was based on a sample of more than 2,000 people. One of the studys findings: the wilder a persons guess as to what the other party is thinking, the more likely they are to also personally disparage members of the opposite party as mean, selfish or bad. Not only do the two parties diverge on a great many issues, they also disagree on what they disagree on.

Read more

This effect, the report says, is so strong that without a high school diploma are three times more accurate than those with a postgraduate degree. And the more politically engaged a person is, the greater the distortion.

Should the US participate in the Paris climate accord and reduce greenhouse gas emissions regardless of what other countries do? A majority of voters in both parties said yes.

Yes Dictators Sometimes Cloak Themselves In Socialism But Tyranny Here And Elsewhere Is Always Right

Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump

The meaning today of the Big Lie almost always refers to the false claim by Donald Trump and his right-wing cronies that the 2020 presidential election was somehow stolen by the left and Joe Biden, with the help of foreign agents.

Not only is this claim false, it is absurdly false.

This is hardly the first Big Lie from the right. Not even close. The right has been promulgating Big Lies for decades.

In fact, lying is the only way the right wing can win elections. After all, its policies are profoundly unpopular with ordinary people because the right-wing favors the 1% rich over the 99% working and middle classes.

How in the world could 1% of the population ever win elections over the 99%? Simple. The 1% bamboozles the 99%. To win elections, the right must conceal its true intentions from the voters and instead engage in manipulative tactics, like lying and fearmongering.

The lies are not just little lies.They are whoppers. They are the complete opposite of the truth. They are 180 degrees from the truth. They are the polar opposite of the truth, like from the North Pole all the way to the South Pole. Hence the term Big Lie.

Yet, shockingly, many of these egregious lies actually work. They take hold. They create a false impression in the mind of the public.

Once again, this is the exact opposite of the truth. Dictatorships and fascism are right-wing, not left-wing.

Shockingly, this nonsense actually works.

Who’s Right Democrats Or Republicans

Thanked 13,175x in 9,530 Posts

Mentioned

Tagged

0 Thread

Neither, that is shy you discuss and debate and come to an agreement. It is time that the people make them sit back in their seats in the house and Senate, give the a bucket to go to the bathroom and PBJ’s for breakfast lunch and DinnerWhen the come to an agreement, then they can go home for a good night sleep and we will pick another issue and lock them in their chambers the next day and have them work that one out.Bet it would not take long for these idiots on both sides of the aisle to get the picture

Thanked 4,273x in 3,200 Posts

Mentioned

Tagged

0 Thread

They are both wrong, but I think the Democrat senate is more wrong because they are trying to force an agreement using police stationed at national parks and monuments to make life hell for everyone. Also earlier last week the senate rejected a bill from house Republicans that would have delayed the shutdown for awhile./Edit:give the a bucket to go to the bathroom and PBJ’s for breakfast lunch and DinnerNo no no, PBJs are too tasty. Give them bread and butter.

Last edited by GrassrootsConservative; 10-06-2013 at 03:35 AM.

Thanked 38x in 29 Posts

Mentioned

0 Thread

Liars are the worst kind of thieves-Only trust Hell No Kitty

Thanked 144x in 110 Posts

Mentioned

0 Thread

Thanked 319x in 264 Posts

Mentioned

Tagged

0 Thread

Thanked 6,437x in 4,426 Posts

Mentioned

0 Thread

What Does Left Mean

In politics, left refers to people and groups that have views. That generally means they support reforms, especially those seeking greater social and economic equality.

The farleft is often used for what is considered more extreme, views, such as and . Collectively, people and groups, as well as the positions they hold, are referred to as theLeft or the left wing.

Trump Supporters The Exception

Despite political rhetoric that places them at opposite ends of the spectrum, Republican and Democratic voters appear to be similarly compassionate.

Democrats view compassion as a political value while Republicans will integrate compassion into their politics when their leaders make it part of an explicit message.

There is a caveat to this: I asked these survey questions about personal feelings of compassion in a 2016 online survey that also asked about choice of president.

The survey was conducted a few days after Republican presidential primary candidates Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio had dropped out of the race, making Donald Trump the only viable Republican candidate for the nomination.

In their responses to the survey, a large percentage of Republican voters said they would rather vote for someone other than Trump, even though he was the unofficial nominee at that point.

The Republican voters who didnt support Trump were similar to Democrats on the survey with respect to their answers about compassion. Their average scores on the compassion items were the same. This is in line with the other survey data showing that liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats, are largely similar in these personality measures of compassion.

But Trump supporters answers were not in line with these findings.

The research indicates that appeals to compassion if made by trusted leaders should work for voters of both parties.

Republicans And Democrats After The Civil War

Its true that many of the first Ku Klux Klan members were Democrats. Its also true that the early Democratic Party opposed civil rights. But theres more to it.

The Civil War-era GOP wasnt that into civil rights. They were more interested in punishing the South for seceding, and monopolizing the new black vote.

In any event, by the 1890s, Republicans had begun to distance themselves from civil rights.

Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.  

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

The Democratic Party General Policy And Political Values

The Democratic Party generally represents left-leaning, liberal and progressive ideological values, thus advocating for a strong government to regulate business and support for the citizens of the United States. Thus, one of the key values emphasized by Democrats is social responsibility. Overall, Democrats believe that a prominent and powerful government can ensure welfare and equality for all. Much like the Republican Party, political opinions within the Democratic Party stretch across a wide spectrum, as both parties are, to a large degree, decentralized. However, from a general point of view, Democrats tend to support heavy taxation of high-income households. In comparison to Denmark, where taxes are generally high, the Democratic taxation policy may not seem excessive, but on a U.S. taxation scale these tax percentages are in the heavy end.

  Left Wing And Right Wing Politics

Politics is said to be split in half and you either have left or right political views. Left-wing politics is typically associated with progressive ideas and equality. Democrats are viewed as left-wingers. Right-wing politics values tradition, equity, and survival of the fittest. Republicans are viewed as right-wingers. 

Left-Wing

Left-wing beliefs are liberal in that they believe society is best served with an expanded role of the government. Examples of an expanded role for the government include entitlement programs such as social security and Medicare, Medicaid, universal healthcare, food stamps, free public education, unemployment benefits, strong environmental laws, and other regulations on industries.

Right Wing

Right-wingers believe that the best outcome for society is achieved when individual rights and civil liberties are paramount and the role and especially the power of the government is minimized. Right-wing ideology would favor market-based solutions to the issues that these government programs aim to tackle. For example, encouraging a freer marketplace for healthcare, driven by consumer choice to drive down costs. Or privately held retirement accounts like 401 plans instead of government-guaranteed Social Security.

Democrats V Republicans On Jim Crow

Segregation and Jim Crow lasted for 100 years after the end of the Civil War.

During this time, African Americans were largely disenfranchised. There was no African-American voting bloc. Neither party pursued civil rights policies it wasnt worth their while.

Photo Credit

Democrats dominated Southern politics throughout the Jim Crow Era. Its fair to say that Democratic governors and legislatures are responsible for creating and upholding white supremacist policies.

Southern Democrats were truly awful.

Where Do Trump And Biden Stand On Key Issues

Reuters: Brian Snyder/AP: Julio Cortez

The key issues grappling the country can be broken down into five main categories: coronavirus, health care, foreign policy, immigration and criminal justice.

This year, a big focus of the election has been the coronavirus pandemic, which could be a deciding factor in how people vote, as the country’s contentious healthcare system struggles to cope.

The average healthcare costs for COVID-19 treatment is up to $US30,000 , an Americas Health Insurance Plans 2020 study has found.

Todays Republicans Really Hate Democrats And Democracy

1) Trumps supporters have embraced anti-democratic ideas

This chart shows results from a two-part survey, conducted in late 2020 and early 2021, of hardcore Trump supporters. The political scientists behind the survey, Rachel Blum and Christian Parker, identified so-called MAGA voters by their activity on pro-Trump Facebook pages. Their subjects are engaged and committed Republican partisans, disproportionately likely to influence conflicts within the party like primary elections.

These voters, according to Blum and Parker, are hostile to bedrock democratic principles.

Is God A Democrat Or A Republican

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party of the United States are political parties.  God is so much bigger than any political party.  He is bigger than the United States of America or any other country.  He is bigger than the world we live in.

Psalm 8:3 says God created the stars with His fingers.  Considering that our local star, the sun, is 70 times the size of the Earth, that would make God very big.  Human issues are very small to Him but we will be judged by what we do.

We as believers need to keep our political party in check and be praying for the leadership of our nations.  In the United States, historically parties or groups of organized political interests came later.  The majority of the early settlers were true Christians fleeing persecution and the government trying to control them through a political church.  The Democrats have been considered the party of the people or working class and the Republicans the party of business professionals for decades.  In actuality, that is not true.

Abraham Lincoln was the US President who fought to hold the United States together when division arose about whether African slaves were people or just property of their owners.  It was the Republican party that won the right of the slaves to have true freedom not the Democrats.

Vice Presidents Of The United States

John C. Breckinridge, 14th Vice President of the United States , United States Senator from Kentucky , Member, United States House of Representatives from Kentucky’s 8th District , Member, Kentucky House of Representatives from Fayette County . He was presidential nominee of the southern Democratic Party in 1860.

John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States , United States Senator from South Carolina , 16th United States Secretary of State , 10th Secretary of War , Member, United States House of Representatives from South Carolina’s 6th District . He was a supporter of slavery, state sovereignty and a proponent of the theory of nullification.

John Nance Garner, 32nd Vice President of the United States , Member, United States House of Representatives from 15th District of Texas , 39th Speaker of the House of Representatives , House Minority Leader , Leader, House Democratic Caucus , Member, Texas House of Representatives from Texas 91st District , County Judge, Uvalde County Texas . He supported the poll tax. Although he served as vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt, he turned against Roosevelt during his second term, taking a more conservative stance on several issues.

Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States , 16th Governor of Indiana , United States Senator from , and member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana’s 6th congressional district and Indiana’s 5th congressional district .

What Is Happening To The Republicans

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.

Save this story for later.

Save this story for later.

Content

But, for all the anxiety among Republican leaders, Goldwater prevailed, securing the nomination at the Partys convention, in San Francisco. In his speech to the delegates, he made no pretense of his ideological intent. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, he said. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Goldwaters crusade failed in November of 1964, when the incumbent, Lyndon Johnson, who had become President a year earlier, after Kennedys assassination, won in a landslide: four hundred and eighty-six to fifty-two votes in the Electoral College. Nevertheless, Goldwaters ascent was a harbinger of the future shape of the Republican Party. He represented an emerging nexus between white conservatives in the West and in the South, where five states voted for him over Johnson.

agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.

History Of The Republican Party

The Republican Party came into existence just prior to the Civil War due to their long-time stance in favor of abolition of slavery. They were a small third-party who nominated John C. Freemont for President in 1856. In 1860 they became an established political party when their nominee Abraham Lincoln was elected as President of the United States. Lincolns Presidency throughout the war, including his policies to end slavery for good helped solidify the Republican Party as a major force in American politics. The elephant was chosen as their symbol in 1874 based on a cartoon in Harpers Weekly that depicted the new party as an elephant.

Democratic Candidate Joe Biden

Reuters: Carlos Barria

The Democrats are the liberal political party and their candidate is Joe Biden, who has run for president twice before.

A former senator for Delaware who served six terms, Biden is best known as Barack Obama’s vice-president.

He held that role for eight years, and it has helped make him a major contender for many Democrat supporters.

Earlier this year, Biden chose California Senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate.

The 77-year-old has built his campaign on the Obama legacy, and tackling the country’s staggering health care issues.

He is known for his down-to-earth personality and his ability to connect with working-class voters. He would be the oldest first-term president in history if elected.

According to 2017 Pew Research Centre data, a vast majority of the African American population supports the Democratic party, with 88 per cent voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential elections.

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

A Record Number Of Americans Say Democrats And Republicans Are Doing Such A Poor Job That A Third Party Is Needed Polling Shows

Dissatisfaction with two-party politics is at an all-time high, new Gallup polling shows, with 62 percent of Americans saying Democrats and Republicans are doing such a poor job of representing their constituents that a third party is needed.

But the zero-sum, winner-take-all dynamics of U.S. elections make it nearly impossible for third parties to gain electoral traction, despite survey data that shows fully half of Americans do not identify with any party and label themselves independents. This was underscored this past weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference, when former president Donald Trump ruled out creating a third political party to promote his brand of nationalist conservatism.

To hear those calling for change including many scholars and some lawmakers the inherent problem with our current system is that it shoehorns the into just two parties. Warnings that the nation has backslid toward autocracy driven in large part by the Republican Partys shift away from democratic norms bring added urgency, they say, and reversing that Trump-era trend will require something radical: breaking up the Democratic and Republican parties.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/whos-right-democrats-or-republicans/

[basket-of-radiants]

Unpopular opinion on Moash?

Oh boy!!! I’m always down for talking about my unpopular Moash opinions, you sure do know me!

Everyone who’s been around here for more than a couple days knows that this blog does not endorse Moash hate, and that in fact, I care a lot about him and his well-being. In the past I have talked at great (very great holy shit) length about him about the bad shit he did, and while perhaps not defended his actions, at least defended the idea that his side of the story is as legitimate and worthwhile as that of our protagonists. It’s always easy to talk about the reasons you should hate a character, and a character killing a character you happen to like is definitely one of those reasons, so here you go for my real unpopular opinion about Moash. (And boy is it unpopular.) Oathbringer actually gave us more reasons to love him than not! By that I mean that his pov chapters were a fucking delight.

I don’t want to talk about his mental health and how fucking depressed and depressing he is right now because this is a Moash-positivity post. I know that if you take away all the sad stuff, one might be tempted to argue there’s not much left of him, but I really would just like to strip that all away and go over what actually happened in his chapters.

Like, for example this fused tried to murder him so he murdered her instead and afterwards they totally bonded over that and became pals and started doing each other a bunch of solids. Honestly what more can you want out of any relationship? I’m getting ahead of myself, that didn’t happen for a while, let’s talk about how when he was first captured he went “oh so apparently there’s this Alethi resistance? Maybe I should check that out and get a pamphlet?” But then Moash started using his critical thinking skills and went “wait actually Alethi society fucking sucks, why the hell would I want to help reinstate this racist shit when I could be working for these other guys who aren’t racist towards one another every six seconds?” Like, the more he steps back, the more he goes, “yeah this new society is objectively better than ours, sure they’re enslaving humans but we enslaved/genocided literally all of them first so it’s at least understandable?” And Moash felt they weren’t even being that bad about how they treated humans, compared to how the humans had treated parshmen/each other, you know? You could take the the hardest most labor-intensive job they have and you still get six breaks a day, a decent health plan, and a sick new pair of boots out of it.

(Honestly, when my sister and I were discussing him, the one thing we could agree on was that if it weren’t for the whole Odium thing, we’d probably be on the side of the singers, the Alethi are just really shitty.)

Anyway, Moash decides he’s totally down for helping this new and improved society replace the old and unimproved one, so he up and volunteers for the absolute worst gig they have for the sake of the greater good or something. And the whole time he’s quietly complaining to himself about how his working conditions are too fair and about how he’s given too adequate of accommodations. Like, he mentions that you shouldn’t give slaves enough time to think and question if you really want to oppress them, and he might be right about that. Obviously he has enough time to deconstruct and analyze the power dynamics and tactics of the singers for no other reason than because he was bored.

Okay, that’s just where he’s at in relation to his newfound occupation, let’s actually get to the good stuff he actually did.

That time he sees Khen, Sah & co. being beaten and he goes “??????” and takes it upon himself personally to intervene. This here, this is why I will defend Moash forever. He just ditches his work and punches their overseer in the face. He just sort of angrily lectures them and tells him he is so so disappointed in them, and then he reassigns himself in place of the person they had hurt and lets him ride and heal. He did all that with just so much conviction that everyone goes “okay, guess we’ll just leave it be, he seems to know what he’s doing.”

Holy shit, wait, pausing this, how did I not notice he fucking Bridge Four-ed this group of singer slaves. They were in a hopeless and horrible situation and Moash just put it upon himself to take charge and protect/uplift them. He even did the thing where he trained them all with spears in their off-time! Like, everyone says he’s the opposite of Kallie, and in terms of where his mental health went that may be right, but in terms of his actions now I’m not so sure. And just like with Bridge Four, all the singers on his new crew disliked him from the get go, but Moash didn’t care and fully committed himself to supporting them anyway. But once again I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anyway he hangs out with this group and they hate everything and he’s like “okay, I got this” so he leaves in the middle of work without asking anyone permission and just goes to the nearest fused and goes “hi I want to speak to your manager.” And they go “you’re a slave, is that even a thing you’re allowed to do?” And he goes “it is now” and they go “not my department but sure go ahead” and just throw him into space where he just floats there until Lewshi shows up and they have a nice chat. She goes “what’s up?” And he goes “I’m here because I’m pretty sure you’re reinventing racism or something and I’m not about that. Like I’m cool with you guys replacing humans as our dominant species but only if you guys actually treat each other equally.” And she goes “I understand where you’re coming from, but now let’s talk about you.” And then they both have a nice feelings talk where he tells her why he’s sad, and she tells him why her entire species is sad, and they really connect, you know? She offers him a gig but also says he can do whatever and it’s cool, no pressure.

Anyway, after that Moash is pretty much left to do whatever he wants and by now not only is everyone mildly terrified of him, but now their extra special important person has put her official seal of approval on him. He pretty much just does whatever he wants at this point and he uses this as an opportunity to properly help and train his squad so they don’t fucking die. He cares okay?? Not about himself or about a lot of things, really, but he cares about these people! (I can’t say it’s canon it from the text alone, but just from my read I felt that he was taking some extra responsibility for them as well, because it was Kallie’s fault they were slaves in the first place.)

Like, okay. Were his chapters actually depressing af? Yes. But they were also such a ride, come on.

Just to end this off (because holy SHIT why does everything become so long when I write about him??) I want to add a couple more general points. Moash has had his life personally ruined by members of the aristocracy, and he really does hate lighteyes and what they represent. I don’t hold this against him at all. We do have a lot of main characters who are members of said aristocracy though, and if you feel the need to put one group over the other, then I can see why you wouldn’t like Moash. I do think it’s immensely inaccurate to categorize him as “selfish” or “an asshole” though, just because his actions really don’t show that. Putting this out there, I’m gonna keep talking about him pretty much forever because I think he’s a really great character and because most other people aren’t inclined to do so. Yup.

If you actually read all this, thanks for doing so! I personally didn’t, time to post without looking over it whatsoever. (I should make a masterpost of all my Moash discourse haha.)

#moash #oathbringer spoilers #oathbringer #stormlight archive #The Discourse #long post #asks #i'm honestly so sad he's probably going to be an evil emotionless assassin next book #although...i do have some hope for him just because his friends were shown coming back to visit him right before the end #moash though!!! i care about him so much!!! #i always write way too much about him maybe i like him more than i'm willing to admit to myself #unpopular opinions though my friend #to be honest i actually have some other...very unpopular opinions about a lot of other topics #moash is the only one i'll be vocal about though #not interested in discussing the others unless someone else brings them up first #do not ask i will not tell you they are easter eggs that must be revealed naturally through character development #if people are having fun with the others then tbh that's great for me #but moash is really the only one where i'll look at other people and go ''others think differently from me and this angers me'' #(i'm kidding btw) #the others i don't mind that much #thank you for asking!!!!!! #i still have a few more posts to make about him #but not right now #Anonymous #essay one from the other day is complete! #still gotta do the dalinar one and the szeth/lift/nightblood one

[haidas-anxiety]

My Personal Gambling Strategy

First off, I need to thanks for viewing this article and reading my ideas. Secondly if you don't have $500 to $1,000 greater which you may not leave out, STAY OUT OF THE CASINO!!! I cannot pressure that sufficient. Too many people rush inside the on line casino and play on sacred money and what I mean by that is cash that will pay for their hire, utilities, infant care, food, gas, and other requirements. If you cannot feed your children to your paycheck are searching for help and open a savings account instead of being egocentric and blowing your money in your gambling dependancy. They rush in to play hoping they may hit some thing to be able to trade their life and ultimately maximum will stroll away disappointed and the few that truely do jackpot huge typically do so due to the fact probability works and now not due to a few mystical, supernatural stuff, or systems. If God actually desired you to have extra cash I think he'd do so by means of getting you a better activity and main you to become a clever investor in place of getting you addicted to the desire of one huge pay off  lo khung 3 ngay 188xoso I without a doubt am no longer a fan of these people who have web sites obtainable that say such things as "buy my gadget for $forty nine.95" and you'll win massive on your next go to to the casino or the ones that want to promote you insider secrets. I discover it interesting that they by no means make it smooth that allows you to touch the humans on their testimonial segment. If your "device" become as suitable as you claim it's miles then why charge for it? I'm putting myself on the road and now not charging for my ideas and strategies and I'm giving it back to the sector freed from price.

OK now that this is out of the way and you've $500 to $1,000 greenbacks extra to spend how can you maximize your bankroll? I have been playing for approximately 4 years now and in no way won something extraordinary until I began playing the excessive denomination machines. I'm talking approximately the large boys which can be everywhere from $2 a bet as much as $25, $50, or even $a hundred according to guess. Simply positioned in case you play the better stakes you may win extra. This need to be obvious however most of the people who cross into a casino by no means try this. You'll discover your average player gambling zone, nickel, and penny slots. I can for my part tell you that until you hit a jackpot on a modern machine on a max wager, do not expect to walk out with more than a few hundred bucks at exceptional. Most quarter machines on a jackpot on max wager pay out between $600 and $2500 bucks. That could be first-rate if you hit that on a max wager but the odds are not in your desire and they're literally astronomical. The simplest way you may walk out with a few thousand greenbacks is to play the high stakes and keep in mind that sure you may lose your cash it is in reality viable. I've walked in with my $500 financial institution roll simplest to lose it all.

So here's the center of my method. I play $5 and $10 machines and I put in $a hundred and guess one till I'm over $100. Once I'm over $one hundred I max wager. If I get under $a hundred I bet one. It's that simple. One aspect that I noticed is that mixtures like bar bar bar, bar bar recreation image, and sport symbol 3bar 3bar, come up quite frequently and you are much more likely to hit those combinations than you're a jackpot. Now shall we embrace you're playing 1 / 4 device and you are max betting and also you hit bar bar game symbol and that will pay 60. You have simply gained $15. Now if you have been gambling a $5 device and max having a bet and hit the equal combination 60 x $five offers you a win of $three hundred. On a $10 system that might be $six hundred. Now at this factor you can walk together with your winnings or preserve gambling but I endorse that in case you're not triumphing anymore walk away whilst you've lost half of what you have won. So if you won $300 and also you misplaced $one hundred fifty play every other system or cross domestic. It have to be obvious which machines you need to be playing at this point. My best day changed into where I hit on three special machines, two $five and a $2, and received $3800, $1200, and $1600. That's $6600. Who walked out of the on line casino feeling more confident that day, the guy who won $eighty on the zone device or the fellow who made a nice earnings off $200 on the $five and $2 machines. Keep in mind that I walked in with $500 and only spent $two hundred to get there. But I'd be mendacity if I instructed you to expect that or that it happens all of the time. It surely doesn't. However you stand a higher danger of creating more money in case you're playing the high stakes. And in case you test with most casinos payout records, you may discover that a huge part of the payouts got here from the high denomination machines which ought to be no wonder.

Now walking in and playing quarter machines or penny machines is high-quality if that's what you need to do with your $500. But in case you're trying to make a few coins don't be scared to take the danger and play the excessive stakes. Most humans within the casino that I speak to complain approximately how they never win anything large and when I ask them in the event that they play $five or $10 machines they say "oh it really is an excessive amount of money for me." To quote Master Yoda "this is why you fail." Now it does hassle me that a few humans will study this and forget about the first component I said and go out and play on cash they can't manage to pay for to lose. This is exactly for those who've the extra money to spend and no longer for someone broke with their closing $20 hoping to make their goals come actual. So over again if you do not have and additional $500 to $1,000 which you won't miss STAY OUT OF THE CASINO!!! Don't be a selfish jackass and blow your paycheck or your infant's college fund seeking to get wealthy quick. The odds are not to your prefer and if you examine human beings who've won big jackpots, they didn't control the money properly and finally misplaced all of it or spent it all. I suppose they call it the lottery curse or something like that. I should move on about money control however it's every other article. Good luck in your subsequent on line casino experience and keep in mind play on money which you might not pass over.

[motorcyclegirlfriends]

Also, people view Chyler as like a LGBT champion(and I do find her amazing, don't misunderstand), but her and Melissa are really close. She's said in an interview her kids call her aunt Melissa. So like, if people really champion Chyler that much, shouldn't people trust her judgment of Melissa a bit more. Like she's actually speaks to her and knows her personally.

But if you confront these fans with that, they’d likely come up with a reason that Chyler actually hates Melissa now. 

Off the top of my head, they’d say something like… 

“Chyler didn’t defend Melissa on social media, so she must be angry with her. These tweets that happened after SDCC-

-were created by the Supergirl publicist. You can tell by how they copied the two girls dancing together from her past tweets about their sisterhood, before she realized what Melissa is really like. The emoji of the girls doesn’t even make sense here lmao the Supergirl publicist is so bad at their job omfg”

or alternatively, closer to what I’ve actually seen regarding this-

“Chlyer probably doesn’t even know about the SDCC event. Or she only heard it from their side. She would probably agree with us if she knew what really happened, but she might never know how Melissa really is.”

There’s been a general tendency to frame the actors of Supergirl who are on good terms within this fandom against the actors who are not, at all logical costs.

And so as soon as the fandom has issue with an actor, even if they all previously were perceived as having an amicable or close relationship with the other members of the cast, the fandom will suddenly act like the “good” cast members hate this cast member. 

For instance,

David

When the musical recap first dropped, people were making posts that put thoughts into David Harewood’s head, proposing that he was embarrassed by Melissa and Jeremy.

The infamous letter to Melissa’s publicist even said “[…] save for Katie Mcgrath and David Harewood who appeared uncomfortable […]”

And that’s what most fans on that side of the debate seemed to believe.

But then David tweeted-

Which just speaks to how flawed many fans’ interpretations of the meaning behind the cast’s actions are.

So now he’s on the other side of the line, and the fans have moved from acting like he’s super close with Katie and Odette and they’re all against Mel and Jeremy, to acting like the ‘good guys’ actually hate him too.

Mechad

Mehcad’s fallout is weirder, because it felt like some fans initially didn’t want him on the ‘good side,’ though I do remember seeing post that were pro- Katie, David, and Mechad vs the rest of the cast before they turned around.

I’d been kind of avoiding people who were overreacting to the event by the time the anger spread to Mehcad, but looking back at Mehcad’s tag, people thought he said “Zitta” ( “shut up,” in Italian) in response to Katie saying that art can be interpreted in many different ways (referring to supercorp). And then I think? I remember seeing more criticisms, based on that belief, of Mehcad speaking Italian? Don’t take my word for it.

But he really rather clearly was saying “take that.” (Watch this. Op thought Mehcad said “Take that” then “zitta zitta”, but in the second instance he was actually saying “take tha take tha” quickly. Look away from the video when it says “Zitta zitta” and listen for the “t” sound in the beginning of the phrase.)

Because this is such a big leap to me, I do wonder if those who believed it wanted to be angry with Mehcad. And the originator of this idea didn’t appear to speak italian, so it’s not as naturally occurring a mishearing, which makes me wonder if they were looking for it to be negative.

Then Mehcad responded to someone’s comment on instagram (I’m not sure if he’s said anything else about it) and people had a somewhat less ridiculous reason to “cancel” him.

Note: “I’m a member of the HRC so I can’t be homophobic” is an incredibly misleading simplification of what happened

A piece of the comment he responded to, relevant sections to his response bolded:

“You don’t get to decide if we the queer fans you supposedly support can or cannot be sad over this because even tho you supported the community at some point it doesn’t come as genuine right now when we see things like that horrible interview in which only katie mcgrath was demonstrating to be a real ally in defending the fans views, that’s how you treat your fans who have supported you through this years and helped this show get bigger! […] 

So next time try to educate yourself before speaking […]”

His response:

“don’t post to my page again if you’re going to be rude. I don’t supposedly support anyone. I’m a member of the HRC. I’ve consistently supported all human rights. Race and preference included. You don’t know me. Do your research.”

Essentially, he was responding to accusations that he is ingenue in his support of lgbt+ rights and accusations that he is uneducated about lgbt+ issues.

Kind of, ‘I don’t supposedly support queer ppl, I actively support them.’

He wasn’t saying “I am a member of the HRC so that gives me a free pass,” he was responding directly to an accusation that he isn’t a real ally.

Side note: My own issue with “only katie mcgrath was demonstrating to be a real ally in defending the fans views” - 

Not only did Katie initially laugh at the musical recap (before remembering the wlw fans that she, more than anyone in the cast, has had contact with. These fans have followed her and interacted with her since her “breakout” so she’s likely the most sensitive to their possible reactions), but Mehcad also supported Katie’s affirmation that fans can read what they want from the show with his “take that”, and also showed a visible reluctance to support Jeremy when he said that he debunked Supercorp.

Which makes the anti-Mehcad upsurge kinda sad because he seemed to be on Supercorp’s side, in a way.

Side note, similar to the Mehcad situation:

“Melissa said ‘I can’t be homophobic because I was on Glee’” is again, incredibly misleading.

There is of course some question of the validity of the note, but assuming that it’s real, this is the actual quote from Melissa’s publicist (not Melissa herself. Honestly I guarantee that she hasn’t even read the letter):

“You’ve indicted people who are genuine ambassadors of acceptance, compassion and equality and have proven as much, not on only Glee but on SUPERGIRL and in their own personal lives.”

Her publicist said this kind of within the context of ‘advice’, saying things such as, “However, as an activist, it’s very important that you take a step back before inflicting public scorn.”

My read was that it wasn’t an argument against Melissa being homophobic, but an argument for the writer to think about what she’s doing. To consider that she’s punishing people who want to help and have tried to help, for things they didn’t do.

(Of course, someone who wrote a letter “on behalf of LGBT women” would feel "disrespected and patronized" by advice and criticisms from someone with professional experience in public relations)

(I also wonder if the publicist kinda knew that Glee wasn’t enough, considering her phrasing of “not on only Glee.” But I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t realize that Glee isn’t exactly highly regarded in lgbt+ spaces. It’s not a discourse straight people are usually familiar with.)

But putting the words “I can’t be homophobic because I was on Glee” into Melissa’s mouth is ridiculous and a move made only to further tarnish her image on this website.

Melissa

Before any of this, a lot of Supercorp fans wanted to put Melissa in the “demon” category. 

Any news that was ambiguous in meaning was read in the worst possible light until there was a backlash in the form of a more positive interpretation (usually from Supercorp shippers who like Kara), and they’d back off for a bit.

Now I’m not sure if this was in response to Melissa beginning to date Chris Wood, or because of an urge to prop up Katie Mcgrath as the one who deserves more attention than the lead. Maybe both. (Maybe neither, I’m open to alternate interpretations.)

Chris

Chris had a falling out, but they never put him on the good side. He was neutral/in waiting for the bad side because of who he plays.

But they couldn’t “strike,” so to speak, because Chris Wood himself hadn’t actually done anything. There was likely some degree of anti-Chris posts, but there were also regular reminders from the some bloggers that, “Chris Wood is not Mon-El, don’t send him hate.”

Then, I think it was his first (?) video interview about Supergirl in which he very clearly liked Mon-El and Karamel, and that was enough reason for him to be considered evil incarnated.

And so the “Chris Wood is not Mon-El” posts died down in response to the idea that ‘he endorses Mon-El’s behavior.’

(My read of Wood is that he knows that Mon-El isn’t like… Doing the Right Things, but sympathizes with him and thinks he is getting better. Over sympathizes. He thinks it’s interesting or compelling or whatever, like a lot of people do. As a society we have way too much sympathy and interest for man-children and their ‘accidental misogyny’ turned ‘okay person’. But it’s not an uncommon reaction to this kind of character, across the board. 

At this stage in the recognition of this trope’s problems, it’s the kind of issue we should work on, not one that we should completely renounce people for enjoying.

I mean, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the guy and have some degree of issue with other things, but Mon-El’s actions are still not Chris’ actions. I’ll criticize him for things he actually does, thanks.)

But when Melissa started dating Chris, it became impossible for people to say things like “Save Melissa from having to act along side Chris” or “She looks so pained in her scenes with him, compared to with Katie” because we all knew that she definitely likes the guy. 

And sort of accusing Chris of abusing Melissa and forcing her to stay in the relationship, they had to accept that she enjoys his company. (That would be a step too far. But I do wonder if it might have escalated to that point in the future.)

So she couldn’t 100% be on the good side, because she didn’t hate the people on the bad side. But she also couldn’t be on the bad side, because then Katie would have to hate her. And then there goes Supercorp.

…But then Odette came on the scene, just as Melissa participated in saying that Kara and Lena are only friends.

And with the announcement that Lena and Reign are somehow connected, fans who were frustrated with not being able to condemn Melissa are given free ‘reign’.

This is why people are shipping reigncorp, because they have new blood who couldn’t possibly have done anything to upset fans yet, and they can easily divide the cast into people they hate and people the love.

But the only person who is truly safe is Katie Mcgrath, not only because she has a lot more experience with wlw fans and knows what not to say and because she doesn’t have any social media to say the wrong thing on, but because she is their favorite. 

And so no matter what happens, she is always going to be on the good side.

So the argument that Chyler loves Melissa and is a good judge of character will not work.

But if tomorrow, Melissa Benoist said she loves Katie Mcgrath, and Katie Mcgrath said Melissa is a really good person, the fans might suddenly shift Melissa to the good side. 

Because they see the world in black and white, but their fave is more their moral compass than anything else.

#supergirl #melissa benoist #mehcad brooks #david harewood #chyler leigh #Anonymous #sdcc superfail